Disclaimer: I don't own you-know-who.

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Somewhere, sometime, not known. In a large brightly lit room.

A young girl dressed simply in a tank top and slacks twirls a combat rod in each hand while standing at a ready position. She was slowly being surrounded by three men in heavily padded suits and gear that made them look like they were from some kind of bomb squad. Each man had a short combat rod of his own in one hand held at ready. If the young girl in the center was worried, she didn't show it.

Suddenly, one of the men charges the girl, his rod swinging down. The girl sees this and promptly blocks with one rod, stopping the weapon on its way down. She then used her other rod to hit the man in the chest which causes him to bend over in pain and give a muffled cry. She finishes him off momentarily with a swift kick to the face, bringing him to the floor on his back.

A second man makes an attack, his rod swinging horizontally at her from behind the girl. She notices and jumps up high into the air and into a graceful back flip over her assailant as his weapon hits thin air. While coming down, the girl straitens her self in an upright position and swings down both her rods into the mans corresponding shoulders. The man yelps in pain and is brought down on his knees. She lands and fan kicks the man from behind sending him face-first to the ground.

The last man makes for the girl head-on. He swings his staff madly at her trying to get a hit in. The girl easily blocks and parries each attempted hit with inhuman speed and ease. He makes a last attempt by swinging down, the girl effortlessly blocked the attack with both her rods in the shape of an 'x'. She then uses the rods to toss away the man's weapon to the side, hops into the air so she meets the man, who is about three feet taller than her, at eye level. While there she promptly delivers a foot to his face sending him a good distance backwards.

The girl stands up properly in the middle of the room. She smiles proudly at her work. A static sound comes from the air followed by an electronic voice of someone unknown.

"Good work, child," said the voice. "Sergeant, you and your men may leave."

The three men groggily picked themselves up and more or less limped out of the room through a door somewhere along the wall. The girl is left alone in the large room. The voice from the hidden speakers starts up again.

"Excellent display, child," said the voice in a less than proud tone.

"It was nothing at all Doc!" the girl exclaimed proudly.

"That right, child, it was nothing."

The girl's smile gradually fades. Curiosity quivers within her as she cannot grasp the meaning behind that last statement made by her unknown talker.

"But…I don't understand…" she said.

"Child…do not pride yourself with this. You have greater promise than this, I assure you. Things will only get much tougher from now on. Much tougher."

"But doctor, I don't think I could---"

"You must, child, it is your purpose. Try as you might to will against it, you can not deny it, Sakura."

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Lithium groggily wakes up with a long, agonizing groan. She takes a moment to survey her current situation and form some kind of conclusion.

First and foremost, she was alive. That's always a good first sign, she thought. She wasn't in any pain either. In fact, she couldn't feel anything at all. She could barely feel her body's presence. She was also a little dizzy like she was on alcohol but not totally wasted as she can still somehow create concrete thought. She could tell she was in a very gray room. Walls were gray, floor was gray, and ceiling was gray except for a single florescent bulb. Depth perception hardly existed in this room.

She tried moving her arms and legs but found she could not even wiggle a finger. Even then she had enough movement from her head to see that her limbs were bound. She could also tell she was in a metal chair, specifically designed to constrain anybody who deserves to sit in it. She makes another effort to move her limbs. It was to no avail. She had none of her strength at all.

"It's no use."

A voice emanated from the emptiness of the room. Lithium darts her eyes wildly from side to side. She spots Robin, in his usual red, green, and yellow costume. He was standing just a few feet in front of her.

"You've been given a sedative," he said. "It is specially formulated to severely limit motor functions. We all know how much stronger you are from the average girl and we didn't want to take any chances."

Lithium's face tightens in an expression of anger towards the boy wonder.

"It's no use putting up any resistance." Robin continued. "It's best that you cooperate with us and make this a lot easier. For me and you."

She barely reacts to him and keeps her staring eyes on the hero.

"First of all I wanna ask you about the item you stole from the Roscher bank the other day. Tell me what it is. And what does it have to do with what Arsenic stole from that convoy from the freeway."

Silence from the bound girl in the chair.

"…Ok, how about that device that you two took from the Garland tech center? Care to tell me what it is or how you're planning to use it?"

Again, silence.

"…What about yesterday? What were you two after in the Powers Chemical Factory? Some kind of bio weapon, or maybe a chemical agent."

She mumbles something to soft to be understandable.

"What was that?" Robin leans a bit closer.

"I said: go screw yourself!" she replied in a low tone.

Robin sighs exasperatingly. So far everything was going as he had expected it to proceed. Which is to say: going absolutely nowhere, fast. He knew Lithium was not the kind of criminal to simply pay a hero due respect and cooperate accordingly. Then again, what criminal would be of that kind if he/she was truly a criminal.

"Besides," The girl continues. "If anything, you probably know what the hell those things are, anyways"

"Indeed I do," he replied. "However, I'm a detective. My principles dictate that these things are not enough. I still need a motive here and you are the only person I have that could give me that motive is you."

"You can take your principles and shove it up your---"

"Listen here, you! You've been found guilty in about five major felonies: armed robbery, breaking and entering, high jacking, grand theft auto, and assault with lethal weapons. Now we have enough to throw the book on both you and your partner, Arsenic."

"I don't care."

"You don't seem to understand your situation here."

"You're the one who doesn't my situation here, hero boy!"

Robin is taken aback by her sudden outburst. Lithium gradually lowers her head avoiding the teen hero's glance completely. She then softly mumbles in an almost inaudible voice:

"Nobody ever understands…"

Robin simply stands there. Neither of the two teens budges an inch for what would seem like an eternity. Finally, Robin decides to break the ice with his trump card.

"We know about Project: Maria." Said Robin.

Lithium's head darts back up instantly. Her wide blue and green eyes staring at the boy wonder's masked eyes. Her expression shows utter shock at the notion that anyone outside herself, her brother and the Doctor could have known about their plans. How could he have known of this? Surely neither her nor her brother could have given that information away. They had been so careful.

"How…could you---?"

"We have our sources. Let's leave it at that."

Lithium's surprise slowly transforms back to her previous glare of anger. It's as if she knows what he is going to say next. And she knows she's just gonna hate him even more for what he is about to say.

"So, you see," Robin continues. "We do understand…"

"Like hell you do!"

Robin is again taken aback as Lithium continues.

"How the hell could you possibly understand anything about us! You don't know jack about us! What we've been through, what we were made to do! You'll never understand! None of you ever will!"

By now Robin was matching her anger. He was getting extremely frustrated at the progress of this would-be interrogation. He was low on temper to start with.

"Ok, so maybe I will never understand you completely. But let me ask you now to try and understand me. I know enough to see that you are willing to do anything to achieve your goal. And I see that as a potential threat to the lives of innocent civilians. And as long as that is my view, I cannot tolerate any more of your shenanigans. Do you understand me?"

Lithium was now angry for a new reason. Robin has associated her and her brother with something they are not. Another form of his misunderstanding of them, once again. She decides to make her point verbally clear to him.

"We're not killers if that's what your saying…"

"Yeah, sure your not."

"We. Are. Not. Killers! You fascist little prick!"

Robin is silenced for a moment. Something, a little part in the back of his mind, was somewhat telling him to believe her. He shakes it off and continues on.

"Nevertheless, you people are still criminals. And we cannot tolerate that no matter what the circumstance. I hope I'm extra clear on that."

"…Whatever you say."

"I'll come back later. When you've cooled off a bit."

"You ought to speak for yourself, hero boy."

Robin found himself really annoyed, for some reason, on that little pet name Lithium was using on him. He decides to make an exit before he fills up with more steam. He turns and makes for a barely visible door on the wall. Lithium offers no response to this gesture. Half-way to the door, Robin stops and turns back at the girl.

"You should really consider cooperating with us, ya know," he said in a much calmer tone. "Who knows? We might even be able to help you… and your brother."

"…I doubt it." Lithium replies simply and bluntly.

Robin decides not to push the subject any further. He turns again and leaves the room completely. Lithium is left alone. Her anger and frustration completely vanishes from her face as soon as she confirmed she was alone. She drops her head down to the floor. A tear drop or two lands on her lap.

"Brother, please come for me…" she softly mumbles into the emptiness of the room.

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Down at the nearby parking lot. Inside the T-car.

Cyborg was sitting quietly in the driver seat. His right arm, now fully reattached from yesterday, had wires coming out of it and was connected to the T-car's computer terminal in the dashboard. The little LCD screen was displaying : Running Diagnostic Scan… 67. It would seem that Cyborg was simply making sure his arm was in proper condition. After all, after the incident from yesterday, who could blame him.

This wasn't the first time his cybernetic body has shown its vulnerability. He vaguely recalls of such incidents such as the Titans' first meeting with the mechanical genius, Fixit and his last run-in with Brother Blood in the east coast. And, of coarse, he remembers the latest event oh so clearly…

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Cyborg lets off another shot. Lithium evades to the side and rushes at Cyborg. The metal hero tries another shot. Lithium, this time, jumps forward and over the shot and lands on Cyborg's extended cannon limb. She Stabs down both her knives at the space where the cybernetic forearm is connected to the elbow. Cyborg is caught by surprise. Like mini-crowbars, she twists and pulls on her embedded knives effectively detaching the limb from its owner.

"Aaarrgh!"

The detached sonic cannon limb bounces on the floor a few times. It rolls to a stop. Then suddenly, due to some kind of malfunction, It lets off a shot in full blast which hits a chemical shelf. The following results were predictably not good.

BOOOOOM!

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No-one has ever really questioned Cyborg's worth as a Titan. No-one except himself. Moreover he has even, for a few periods in time, questioned is worth as a human.

Before his 'accident' which had been the primary cause of his current state, he was, above anything else, an athlete. He loved pushing himself and extending his limits, giving a hundred and ten percent. He had always dreamed of athletic stardom and one day be dubbed the best in the world. Sadly though, those dreams were shattered when certain circumstances had forced him to live in a new body, with built-in limits. And instead of achieving athletic stardom, he had heroic legendry shoved into his face.

Ever since then, he has strived to prove himself to the team and everyone else that he is not just some kind of cripple who cannot do past what was built into him. He still kept on pushing his limits. Even as he brings himself at the edges of catastrophes, he still kept on pushing. If not to prove to anyone else but to himself that he was still worth a little hope.

But he can rest easy for the meantime. He has a new family in the Titans, after all. And like any kind of family, he has somebody to catch him if he falls. For that, he is thankful enough.

The computer terminal beeps. The screen reads: Diagnostic Scan Complete. Results: no problems found… Cyborg smiles at that. Fist bit of good news he's heard of all day. He pushes a button on the terminal and the wires connected to his arm automatically detached and reeled back into their respective chambers. Cyborg raises his arm and gives it a once-over.

"Good as new," he said. "now if only Rob and the gang would get done already…"

As if on cue, The computer terminal sounds of that familiar Titan's jingle. Cyborg pushes the button to answer, Robin's face predictably appears in the screen.

"Yo, Rob!" enthusiastically greeted the metallic Titan. "How's it hangin'?"

"Well, as usual, she didn't cooperate." Robin's image replied.

"Were expecting any less, dawg?"

"Guess not, really. Anyways if you're done with your diagnostics, meet us up here in the thirteenth floor briefing room. I'm calling a discussion on things, alright?"

"No sweat, man. I'm on may way."

Cyborg terminates the call. He sighs into the empty atmosphere. He then proceeds to open his door and get out. After he closed his door again, he pressed a button on his arm and The T-car gave a usual car alarm chirping sound. Cyborg turns around and walks away from his prized vehicle and heads for the large structure ahead of him.

The JCPD Central Headquarters.

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In the secrete underground lair, some hours ago…

"The JCPD Central Headquarters…" said Riya in a monotone. He stares in to a digital map as shown in the very large computer screen in front of him. One particular site was blinking on and off continuously.

"Yes, there." Dr. Volkov said, standing right next to Riya. "As soon as you told me that the Titan's managed to capture your sister, I ran a search for her through-out all the possible places they could take her."

"And you are sure she is here?"

"Absolutely."

Riya stands staring into the digital map on the screen. Silently pondering. Most likely any possible plan he could use to get his sister out of there as soon as possible. Surely the Titan's would be there, not to mention a formidable number of Jump City's finest law enforcers. This was going to be far from easy.

"But, of coarse," the Doctor suddenly spoke up again, "I wouldn't have to go through all this trouble if you had not been so careless, boy." The Doctor stares with great disappointment into Riya who meets his glare with his green and blue eyes.

"I told you, Dr. Volkov, it was an accident."

"No excuses child! You two are better than this."

"I promise you, Doctor, it won't happen again!"

"Like how you promised Sakura you would protect her?"

Riya was taken aback by this. He remembered his words to her, that he would protect her at all cost. Now he has broken that promise. The Titans had captured her and he could blame no-one but himself. Though he had always valued patience and strategy, recently he has been rushing his actions causing him to be sloppy at his work. His sister paid for that mistake.

"…Nevertheless," Dr. Volkov continues. "our main goal now is to get back you sister. She is more vital to this operation than you would think. Our only problem now is how to get her out safely…"

"…I'll take care of it."

The Doctor turns to his side where Riya is suppose to be. But as he looked, the teen was already on his way out of the room.

"Can you really get her out of their, my boy?" Dr. Volkov asked out loud. He was more on questioning . Riya's capabilities now more than anything else. He knew that the boy must have some degree of instability due to recent events.

"…Yes, Doctor. I'm sure I can." Riya declared as he looked behind him to acknowledge the old man's inquiry. "I will get her out of there. And that is a promise I will die to keep…"

The Doctor found that he could not argue with the teen for some reason. It would seem he was again underestimating the true capabilities of these children.

"How are you planning to get her out and face the Titan's offence at the same time?"

"Oh, don't worry about that, Doctor. I have my ways of distraction…"

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In the thirteenth floor briefing room.

The Titan's had rented out the room to have a round-table discussion on the current situation. They had managed to apprehend the girl, Lithium, but she hardly shows any sign of cooperating. Her supposed brother, Arsenic is still loose and was still able to deliver the stolen chemical substance back to… wherever they've been hiding out. The mastermind, Dr. Volkov, might be starting the induction process for all they know.

This has made the situation very dangerous for them and everyone else. With no clear knowledge as to what they might be dealing with, they are no closer to cracking this case than when they started it.

"Man…I am sooo totally bummed out right now…" said a very frustrated Beast Boy on one side of the table. "You're sayin we still got squat on these guys?"

"I'm afraid so Beast Boy." Robin replied from his end of the table. "Lithium won't cooperate with us and we don't know enough of this 'induction process' to get anywhere."

"How truly desponding our situation is…" added Starfire form her end.

"We should try and find out where their hide out is, dawg." Cyborg suggested from where he sat. "If we can do that, we can shutdown their whole operation."

"True, but the haven't been exactly leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, have they?" said Raven in her place.

"If anything our best chances of ever nailing them is to wait for her brother, Arsenic, to show up." Said Robin. "If he does show up, Raven can more than likely sense him coming. And, he'll most likely come after Lithium here."

"Are you sure about that, dawg?" asked Cyborg.

"Yes. From what info we can gather, those two have a very tight bond between them and their 'mother'. It's this kind of attitude that will make them do almost anything to get what they want. And, of coarse, that's what makes them so dangerous."

"How so, Robin?" asked Starfire.

"These two have exhibited absolute disregard for public ethics. I can only conclude that that whatever they are planning, makes them very unstable and unpredictable. That always concerns me."

"But dude, what about what that girl said when you talked to her?" inquired Beast Boy.

"Huh?"

"You know? when she was all 'we ain't no killers!" and stuff."

"As much as I wanna believe her I can't find any merit to back that up. Plus, may I remind you, they were both trained in lethal arts. Dr. Cannes made that clear when we had our little chat with him."

"But, Robin, the two have not exhibited any homicidal tendencies since they have appeared." Said Starfire. "Surely, this merits for something?"

"Yeah, dawg. And what about what I told happened that time we was chasing that Arsenic dude on the road? You know, the one with the girl and the ball and the car…"

"Yes, That is all true. They have never really shown any tendencies or incentives to actually kill anyone and I will accept that. But, as I said, they are unstable, and who knows what they can do if this goes any further than it already has. My point here is that they are still criminals who broke the law. It is only right that we treat them as we have treated all the other villains we have fought with. I'm sure you could all understand that."

A collective nod from the rest of the group.

"…But, still, dude." Spoke up Beast Boy. "you gotta admit that they're whole goal of tryin to bring their mom back from the dead is pretty easy to sympathized with, ya know."

"Yes it is." Added Starfire. "Their plight is very much saddening to hear."

"It's pretty understandable, dawg." Cyborg chipped in his two cents "I mean, they want their moms'. Wouldn't anybody else feel the same if they lost their moms but could bring them back, dawg?"

"I can understand what you guys are saying," said Robin. "But that is still no excuse for criminal behavior. My heart goes out to those two, but I won't let them just get what they want at the expense of other people. If they just realize that we can understand them, maybe they could allow us to help them."

"But do we really understand them?" Raven finally spoke up again.

Everyone turned to look at her. Raven was never much of a talker, they knew that much. But when she does have something to say, you can bet your last dollar it's worth hearing. Raven takes a breath and continues on.

"We can say that we can we relate to them in some degree because all of us can be considered orphans. And maybe we can. After all, we have all lost our natural parents through some form of tragedy or another, correct?"

The team suddenly takes a mournful expression. The soon recover and listen intently to Raven again.

"This, however, does not mean we can put ourselves in their shoes. At least all of us had some remnants of a family when we were younger. Even if I myself never really knew my mother, I still had a proper household of sorts at the temples of Azar where I received proper care. I'm thankful for being in the Titans because here I would also like to think I have some form of family with you guys. And as a Titan I have a clear purpose."

The rest of the team gives her reassuring smiles.

"But let's consider what we know about those two from what we have heard from Dr. Allen Cannes. Those two, Arsenic and Lithium, never once had a true family or any remnants of a proper one. Which is also why they are so close to each other. They were artificially made and raised to become weapons to serve whatever government. They never had a clear sense of their purpose in this world. They never had a proper childhood."

The rest of the team seems to ponder this notion. Generally though, their body language and facial expression can only indicate that they agree. Raven continues.

"They are not some career criminals as we have first thought they were, even though they have committed crimes. What they are exactly is lost, lonely, and looking for a way out of that dark hole they live in. They had only each other and the hope for some kind of future awaiting them. They long to escape this sense of being trapped in a void. And, at the moment they only have one avenue of escape…"

"…Maria…" said Robin.

"Precisely. So we cannot totally judge them on such a basis that we can only label them as hardened criminals. It maybe true that they have been trained to use lethal combat methods but also remember that they have been trained to use such methods on bad guys only. They were still trained to be soldiers, first and foremost. But they are also victims of a battle they were never meant to take part in. A battle for their identities…."

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Meanwhile. In the fourth basement level parking lot.

The place is dark and not even lit, there is absolutely no signs of life. Mostly due to the fact that the entire level was under maintenance due to a recent flooding of the vents and is strictly off limits to all personal. There was also no power to the level so the security was turned off for the moment. A fact all too soon, exploited.

A sewer lid lifts from the floor. It is set aside leaving the manhole completely open. A dark figure jumps up from the manhole and into a crouch on the floor. He scans the room as if searching for something. He finds nothing, he is satisfied

He takes out about four sticks of some sort from his pockets. He takes each one and bends them, causing a cracking sound from within the stick and making it glow an eerie green light. The glow was enough for only about a few feet but it was enough to light the figure to be identifiable. Arsenic.

Once all four sticks are lit, he haphazardly drops them to the floor around the manhole. He bends over the manhole and reaches down. He retrieves a rope of some sorts and pulls on it. The rope has some length until its end, tied to a large black trash bag, was lifted above the manhole. Arsenic sets down the bag just next to him. He tears it open to reveal a large metallic box. He opens it. Inside were a small number pad and a little LCD screen, over a lot of wires and circuitry connected to a very questionable black sphere.

In the light of the four green glow sticks. Arsenic kneels down on one knee and begins to work on the device. He pushes a sequence of buttons making loud beeping sounds. Eventually the small LCD screen showed a red blinking word: 'ARMED'.

Arsenic stands up. He reaches into one of his pockets and retrieves what looks like a small calculator. He pushes a red button just bellow the numbers and the small LCD screen began blinking the same red message as the item on the floor. He smirks and pockets the device away.

He then leaves the scene towards a pair of elevator doors. It wasn't working of coarse, but that didn't bother Arsenic. He slips both his hands into the crack in between the doors. With great, inhuman strength, he forces the elevator doors to open. The elevator shaft was dark and unlit. Arsenic takes out a last glow stick, cracks it, and holds it forward.

The shaft went no lower than a few feet to the bottom where four giant springs, supposedly for the elevator car to rest on when at bottom, were planted on concrete. On the far corner was a maintenance ladder that was placed so that it, and anyone climbing it would be out of the elevator's way. Upward, the shaft stretched over ten stories up.

Arsenic wasted no time. He hops down and makes his way to the maintenance ladder. He begins a long upward climb.

"Hang in there, sis," he mumbles into the empty shaft, "I'm on my way…"

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Some floors up in a security control room.

As usual in a security control room, there is an abundance of monitors mounted through-out the walls. Each monitor shows one area of the many hallways, rooms, storage places of the building. Two guards were on post that day, sitting in front of a large computer control terminal. Evidently it was a slow day, since they had playing cards in their hands.

"Got any threes?" said the first man.

"Nope, go fish." Replied the second.

The first one picks a card from the deck and puts it in his hand.

"Should we be doin' this?" asked the first.

"Waddaya mean?"

"We're on duty after all…"

"Relax, we've been here two days and nothing's happened yet."

"That's a hasty generalization, Carl. Two days ain't enough to know for sure if we can take it easy. I don't wanna get fired again like the Garland tech center…"

"That wasn't our fault alright. That kid jumped us! Plus the report said he was superhuman."

"Still…"

"Just relax, Bob. We're inside police HQ. Plus the Titans are here. What are the odds that same guy would come here…?"

BONK!

The first man on duty, Carl, falls off his seat and face first into the floor, completely unconscious. The second man, Bob, shrieks in total shock and jumps off his seat and looks ahead behind his partner's seat. Arsenic was standing there, holding a fire extinguisher in follow-through position. Hastily, Bob grabs for his sidearm and frantically aims it. Arsenic simply tosses the fire extinguisher into Bob's gut, sending it and the guard into the far wall and causing him to drop his gun onto the floor at Arsenic's feet. Both guards on duty were now seemingly unconscious.

"Security Guards…" said Arsenic as he moved towards the control terminal, "If they're not incompetent, they're too easy to knock-out…"

He takes Carl's seat and operates the terminal speedily. He types away at a blurring speed. He glues his eye to the computer screen in hopes to find what he is looking for.

"C'mon sis…" he said "…where are you?"

He types, types some more, types a lot more, then finally on the screen display was the image of a familiar teenage girl bound by the limbs into some kind of chair. Arsenic's face lights up a bit. He takes careful note of her location and then searches a bit more for something else this time. The screen besides the first then shows a new image: the Teen Titans seated at a round table, discussing something he can't hear. Arsenic frowns in annoyance.

Meanwhile, Arsenic is oblivious to what's behind him: Bob, the security guard was not fully unconscious. He groggily lifts his head up and looks for the wall. He finds it, moreover he finds the emergency alarm button on it. Bob begins to slowly crawl towards the button.

Arsenic does not notice. He seems deep in thought. If he could somehow get to Lithium without being noticed, he could leave without any problems. But that would be hard. This building was probably the most secure building, next to STAR labs, in the city. And he also knew that the Titans were, more than likely expecting him to come here. He did have a plan to escape safely with his sister prior to coming here, but if at all possible he would like to avoid using the little 'distraction' that he had brought along with him. But it was a sound plan and had a good chance of working. But unless there is an urgent need for that plan, he would rather take a stealthier coarse of action---

BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!

A loud buzzing sound, accompanied by bright, flashing, red lights, penetrates the silence of the room. Arsenic is taken by complete surprise. He frantically looks around for the cause of the alarm. He sees one of the security guard reaching for the alarm button on the wall before promptly falling back down on the floor out of exhaustion.

"Damn!" Arsenic now knew a stealthy approach was out of the picture. Looks like he found that urgent need for his plan. He takes one last glance at the screen showing the Teen Titans. They had noticed the alarm and were frantically rushing out of the room they were in. He takes one last glance at his sister to see she has also reacted to the alarm with some shock and curiosity. Arsenic then turns to leave.

On his way out he notices a locker in the corner of the room. It was labeled with plate saying: 'M79'. Arsenic stops and makes for the locker. He opens it and inside was an M79 Rifle Grenade Launcher.

Along side it were some gas masks and a carrying case with a shoulder strap containing 'Tear Gas Rifle Grenades', used by the JCPD mainly for crowd control. Arsenic smirks. He takes the bag of grenades and slings it on his shoulder. He takes a gas mask and wears it on his face. He then takes the M79 and loads it with one grenade. He then promptly leaves the room.

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All through-out the building, alarms were loudly wailing.

Officers left and right were scrambling with weapons drawn for the eventuality of a hostile encounter. A squad of four officers was taking a particular path down a particular hallway in pursuit. They turn the corner. The take a stand with their pistols aimed at a fleeing figure ahead.

"Freeze!" the lead officer yells out.

The figure up ahead, Arsenic, stops in his tracks. In one quick movement, he turns around, aims the M79, and launches a tear gas grenade at the foot of the pursuing officers. The grenade explodes into a huge cloud of tear gas. The officers find themselves in a lack of mobility as the gas invades their lungs and stings their eyes.

Arsenic reloads the M79 with a new grenade from the bag. He takes a moment to adjust the gas mask on his face, and moves on, leaving his pursuers behind. While on the run, he takes the small digital device he had earlier. It was still blinking the same massage in red: 'ARMED'. He pushes a series of buttons and the display stopped blinking and changed into a new display: '7m : 00s'

He pockets the device away. He turns a corner, a squad of more officers ahead were barring his way. The aim their guns at the incoming Arsenic in hopes of getting some shots off. But Arsenic had beat them to the punch by aiming his M79 and firing. The grenade again explodes on their feet. The officers ahead gag and cough from the gas. Arsenic, protected by his gas mask, runs at them and jumps over them.

He runs a distance down the hall until he sees a door leading into an office. It was a shortcut to where he was going. So he takes it, crashing through the door. Inside, more officers in waiting were aiming their weapons and started firing upon Arsenic.

Arsenic quickly ducks under a nearby desk. Bullets ricochet overhead of him as the cops lay suppressing fire. Arsenic does not take this lying down, though. He reloads the M79, lifts it over his head and the top of the desk, and fires blindly in the cop's direction. The officers, naturally, stop firing. Arsenic takes this moment to charge on ahead to the opposite door, knock two officers with the butt of his Launcher on the way.

He charges through the door and bursts out the other side into another hallway. He runs down the hallway a distance without resistance. Until he turns the next corner.

The M79 suddenly flies off Arsenic's hands following a sudden impact. Arsenic reels back and clutches his pained hands. He looks at the downed M79. A birdarang was embedded into the barrel. Arsenic's eyes are neutral as always.

"Arsenic!" a very familiar voice calls out.

Arsenic turns his head and stares at what he was expecting to see. The Teen Titans, Robin up front, Cyborg and Beast Boy just behind him, and Starfire and Raven floating in the back of the group. They had taken their stand in the middle of the hallway completely barring his route. They were clearly prepared to fight.

"Surrender, now!" Robin commands. "There is no way you can beat us."

Arsenic doesn't respond immediately. He removes the bag of rifle grenades off his shoulder and sets on the ground in front off him. He then takes the gas mask off and tosses it carelessly to the side. He puts a smirk on his face. Something the Titans found worrying.

"I can see you were expecting me." Said Arsenic.

"You're more predictable than you think." The Titan leader replies.

"Predict this, bird boy." Arsenic swiftly kicks the grenade bag like a football into Robin's face. Robin reacts fast enough to bat away the bag with one hand. But by the time he does so, Arsenic had closed the gap between them. Robin could not react to this. Arsenic grabs the Boy Wonder's arms. Does a three sixty with Robin in tow, and throws him into Starfire. Both teens fell to the ground hard.

"Argh!" "Oof!"

Arsenic catches Cyborg off guard. Arsenic sweep kicks the metallic hero bringing him to the floor. As the Titan is grounded, Arsenic grabs Cyborg's neck, picks him up by it, and tosses him to the wall, very hard, making a crater on the wall.

"Dohh!"

Arsenic becomes aware of something creeping up on him. He dodges to the side a s a green tiger pounces on him, missing. Arsenic promptly grabs the animorphed Beast Boy by the neck as well and tosses him upwards into a surprised Raven. Both teens fall to the ground near Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg.

"Uggh!" "Dah!"

Arsenic flips over the downed heroes and runs ahead of them. Robin hastily gets up and throws a birdarang. Arsenic seemed to have sensed it as he dodges to the side as it narrowly misses his head. Arsenic stops in his tracks and turns around. The Titans were quickly recovering and getting back into fighting poses. The Titans charge Arsenic.

Arsenic quickly holds up his palm out, at the same time reaches into his pocket with his other hand and retrieves his little digital device and let's the Titans see it.

"Hold it right there!" He exclaims. The Titans stop in their tracks. They quiver with curiosity.

"Can you guess what this is?" Arsenic asked the teens.

Cyborg takes a good look at it with his red robotic eye. He scans it carefully. His eyes grow wide. He knew what it was. And it was worth great concern.

"Oh, dang. Robin it's a remote detonator!"

"What!" the Titan leader looks back at his teammate then back at the device.

"That's right." Said Arsenic. "This thing is connected to a bomb hidden down bellow in the basement levels. If it blows this whole building will collapse, not to mention cause major damage to the surrounding area. I don't think that's what any of you want!"

"Dude, no way!" exclaims Beast Boy.

"That is horrible!" gasps Starfire.

"Of coarse, I'm not totally unfair." Arsenic continues. "This thing runs on a timer of seven minutes before it detonates. That gives you just enough time to find the bomb and dispose of it… that is if you don't come after me. It's your choice."

"No…" Raven says.

"You wouldn't dare." Robin glares.

"Let's see if you're as predictable as I am." Arsenic holds the device up. "Now choose."

He pushes a button. The device's display begins to countdown.

7m : 00s…6m : 59s… 6m : 58s… 6m : 57s… 6m : 56s… 6m : 55s…

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Author's Note: Cliffhanger, yay! First time I ever used it. Then again this is also my first fic. Anyway please send as many comments as you can. I live by them. Next update will be…oh I don't know, a few days or so…