"Here… …," the eyepatch'd girl tosses Terra's bag onto one of two beds in a tiny room inside the center of Cartwright's School for Etiquette. "As long as you're gonna be sequestered and crap, you might as well be sequestered with me.. …"

"I…erm…Th-Thanks, I guess.. …," a 'brunette' Terra saunters into the room, fidgeting. She is quite exceptionally 'alone', Titan-speaking. "But this is all kinda sudden. Who are you? Why'd you hoist me out of the room so quickly? I just got here—"

"You saw how much they were staring at you, didn't you?" the cycloptic girl inquires.

The terrakinetic Titan bites her lip. "Erm.. …w-well.. … …"

"I knew no other way to give you the message than to just drag you out of there."

"Wh-What kind of message is that?"

The girl turns around. She is a gothic femme. Fashionably pale and reasonably badass. A foreigner and a compliment to that elegant setting all the same. She leans a hand on her hip and gives Terra a humored look. "That you shouldn't let bimbos give you the royal asshole treatment. Especially when their fake smiles and boobs are just setting them up for a fall. You and me, gal, we're the real ones…. … …In that we're the cutely freakish ones."

"… …. ….Y-Yeah… …"

"Only difference is," she gives a thumb's up. "I'm not a Titan."

Terra does a double-take. She blushes furiously.

The goth girl of the pageant merely smirks.

It takes a little bit of a while, but Terra is forced to smile as well. In confidence, she slowly slips off her brunette wig in front of the stranger and asks with a squinting of her curious, blue eyes. "Who are you… … …?"

"A bored chick with nothing to do but try on plastic wrap prom dresses and practice world peace speeches for shits and giggles," Lisa winks. "Let's just say, a certain cowboy sent me."

"Heh… …I thought I smelled cigarette smoke on you."

"HAH! Heheheh…"

"Hehehehehe!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

In the meantime…

I'm freaking out.

I can swear… …

Swear that there is something in the branches.

Like… …

Like… … ….

Like a scary thing hopping around in the branches.

Dang my smoke senses some times! I swear… …

I continue to linger behind the group of three as Robin leads us through an open clearing in the middle of the forest. Tall grass stretches ahead and flanks a rusted, hollowed-out car and an abandoned woodshed surrounded by lumber tools. In a rim around the clearing, there're solid tree trunks stretching in full-barked glory.

I've got a very, very icky feeling about this.. ….

"Robin, I'm not much one for repeatin' myself, but—"

"Bard," the team leader grumbles. "You're repeating yourself."

"… … …," Bard blinks. "Yeah, well, I'm just plum sick of you not telling us how exactly we know we're trackin' the right dudes or dudettes!"

"I thought when I let you two join the team, you two expressed your utmost confidence in me."

"Heh, well, I must have been tipsy or somethin'."

"Really now…"

"Hell yeah. That special time of the month. Ya know.. ….when every cowboy secretly bleeds from out of his heart?"

"Well, as far as I'm concerned.. ….," Robin whips out his communicator again—like he has been for the last few hours—and traces with his eyemask a certain blipping signal on the miniature screen. "… …we could waste all the time we have bickering to no ends, or we could follow my lead and make some progress."

"Ain't that a bit tyrannical?"

"Do you think I care?"

"HA! Pulling superiority on me, Boy Wonder? Guess I can't complain—Only you seem to have brought us into a dead-wide-open part of the forest with a random woodshed exposed to the daylight like Venus' teats…. …. …Now why do I suddenly find that a tad bit disturbin'?"

I take a shuddering breath.

Wooosh!

"!.!.!" I spin around, my black eyes dashing to the forest canopy overhead.

I squint.

I hold my breath…….

Did something gray just streak overhead?

"Noirry?"

There's definitely something here… …

Or someone…. ….

"Noir?"

"… … ….?" I turn and face my cowboy buddy.

He cranes his neck and looks at me funny. "You sure everything's all right?"

I hand-sign like mad at him. I pant nervously. Adrenaline running. Smoke trailing from my fingers—

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Bard blinks. "Seeing as there're no mirrors nearby.. ….you reckon someone may be trailing us?"

Robin tilts his head up. "I sense it too…. ….," he glances around the canopy. "Something's moving. Shifting in the wind. And it has a smell… …"

Bard sniffs… …Sniff… …. "… … …well I'll be darned. 'Burnt Toast' anyone?"

"Not exactly… …," Robin murmurs. As he slurs, he slowly snakes a free hand down toward his utility belt and pulls out a pair of discs. "… …but something's definitely frying the molecules in the air. Some sort of hot technology—"

FWOOOOSH! An ivory figure swings over my head.. .. …. ..and straight towards Robin. I gasp. I stick two fingers into the sides of my mouth and whistle shrilly.

Bard shouts and reaches back for his guitar: "We've got a birdy—"

"I see it!" Robin rolls down at the last second.

Swiiish! A streaking, translucent hand from the swinging figure reaches blindingly fast for the communicator in Robin's grasp.. ….but misses.

I blink my black eyes. At the last second, I see the figure perching on a faraway tree branch, flickering, and turning back into invisible chaos—

"Nnngh!" Robin rolls into a kneeling position and immediately, expertly tosses both discs straight at the tree.

Swissssssssssssssh! POW! The discs explode in a vapor of thick, gray steam. HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

The three of us watch as the billowing steam rises up and envelopes the invisible marauder. Soon enough, a black silhouette appears atop the branch. Wheezing and coughing up a storm.

Bard squints from behind his shades.

Robin's brow furrows.

Zzz-Zzzzt! The figure flickers and eventually, helplessly materializes into a tall, statuesque blonde girl in a milk-white reflective jumpsuit fitted with an ivory-smoothe cape. She coughs, winces, and glares down at us through a light gray eyemask hugging the smoothe contours of her face. "Mmmmf… ….Bugger All," she grunts and then tilts her golden head towards the exposed heavens. "Now, lads!"

Bard blinks. "The Hell---?"

SWOOOSH! A metal ball of iron is tossed out from the foliage and lands in our midst. Half a second later, it tolls to a stop in the grass and explodes in a huge array of fiery sparks. FLSSSSSSSSSSSSSH!

"Nnnngh!" Robin winces from the hot, singeing flare and hobbles to the side. Bard seems about ready to summon the wind song to blow the fireworks away when off to his side—

SLNKKKT! SL-SLNKKKT! A blue blade suddenly slices and dices through the body of a tall tree trunk. Crkkkkkkk! The huge tree careens over and falls Bard's way.

"Awww damn it to Democrat Hell!" Bard dives to the side, guitar and all.

CRUNNNNCH!

The entire forest shakes and wobbles from the collapsing tree. The woodshed rattles and the pieces of lumber shake together.

I gasp and fight to keep from collapsing to my knees—

TH-THWISSSH! The conniving blonde from earlier is suddenly leaping in a translucent blur from the tree and hand-planting off my shoulders.

WHUMP!

Ackies!

I'm slammed to the forest floor. In the meantime, the girl vaults off of me twirls in the air, and lands in a lightning-shutter aura before the recovering Robin. "Nnnnngh!" She snarls and surges at him with the full-force of a murderous punch. Robin blocks her at the last second, expertly counters with a jab to her rib cage, and eventually squares off with her across the clearing in a full-on duel of deadly karate chops and jump kicks. Whump! "Nnngh!" Thwap! "Augh!" Smack! "Hiyaaa!" Whap! Slap!

In the meantime, I'm rubbing my sore neck and trying to get up. I wince all the way, shake the cobwebs loose, and frown at the would-be attackers.. … .. …wherever they are.

Just now, I hear swift, shuffling footsteps from the forested undergrowth to the left.

CHIIIING! I whip out Myrkblade and get into a fighting pose, facing the treeline at attention.

Trembling slightly.. ….

And indeed, outward emerge two strangers. The first slides down the collapsed tree trunk that he has just chopped down. He leaps with a flurry of his denim-on-denim blue jacket and lands in a half-squat, glaring with stone blue eyes. The second marches in covered from head to toe with battered armor of silver. He wears an open, metal helmet over his dark-skinned face and juggles a metal ball in his hand.

"Leslie!" the metal-geared fiend barks. "You grab it yet?"

"Bloody good help you lot are!" the blonde girl in white growls whilst dueling with Robin. She ducks and leaps a punch and kick from the Boy Wonder respectively and then raises her crossed forearms in time to ward off his suddenly unsheathed bo-staff. CLANG! "Nnnngh—Any day would be smashing, Simon!"

"Hmmm… ….," 'Simon' smirks from under his helmet and flicks a wrist towards the distant fight across the forest. "Since the girl kindly asks… …"

FLASSSH! A rope of flame erupts from the metal surface of Robin's bo-staff. The Boy Wonder gasps, and drops the bludgeon out from the grip of his glove. "Auugh!" Before he can so much as recoil in pain—

WHAM! The girl slams him in the gut with her fist and drops his chin forcibly down into her knee. THWACK!

"Ooof!" Robin exhales, spits blood, and collapses to the forest floor.

Snatch! The vixen swiftly grabs the bleeping Titan Communicator from the team leader's grasp. "I'll be taking that, thank you!"

I gasp. I make to run to Robin's aide—

Swoooosh! The young man in denim slides directly in my path. "Sorry, kid," he utters, his blue eyes ever hard. "But you're a little too young for me to be putting my foot up your ass. So I'll be making this short." CHIIIIING! He places the tip of his curved, blue sword up to the nape of my neck.

I gulp, sweating… …

He smirks ever so slightly. "Now turn around. Run home." His wrist twists on the hilt—

WHAM! Bard's fist slams into the swordsman's cheek and pummels the stranger into the floor. "Recess ain't over till I say it is, Loverboy!"

The armored thug does a double-take. "Dayum…"

"Oh, you want some of this too, punk?" Bard spits blood and raises a fist towards the new challenger. "Oh yeah! Jumping us in the middle of the woods is a class act!" He swings his guitar out from behind his back. "Well, it only takes a dog halfway to run 'into a forest' before it's skinned alive!"

"Hah hah hah—Whatcha gonna do, Cowboy? Serenade me to death---AAAAUGH!" the man in metal suddenly cringes all over as a bright beam of shimmering energy is flung into his face.

Bard strums at his guitar, shining a magical beam into the fiend's eyes. "Huh? Huh? Can't handle the 'Light of a Neon Moon'?" Bard victoriously cackles as he brings the metal man to his knees.

Then there's a whistling to the side. "Hey! Yankee!"

"Huh?" Bard glances over.

The blonde girl has Robin's communicator in one hand and is pointing her silver glove at Bard with the other. "You want light?"

FLASSSSSH!

"AUGH!" Bard all but drops his guitar, blinded by the optic flare.

It takes every bit of energy in my body to clench my eyes shut and fight the blinding fury. I seethe, falling to my knees besides the cowboy.

But I don't give up.. …

I dig Myrkblade into the ground. I shoot murk into the soil. I feel the dark currents traveling along the earthen floor and towards her till it reaches her agile legs.

There you are.. …

I take one breath. Two. FWOOOOSH! I teleport forward and materialize with a blind swing of Myrkblade.

It connects—

THWACKK!

"OOOF!" she falls back and slamps against a tree. She shakes her head, looks up, and gasps—ducking at the last second—

CHUNK! Myrkblade pins her to the tree by her blonde threads. I press my meager weight down against her. She struggles, snarls, then kicks back at me. WHUMP!

RIIIIP! Myrkblade slices free of the tree, taking a few strands of blonde threads with it.

I fall on my butt as the girl collapses to the grass. She pants, looks desperately aside, and sees the young, bruised man in blue denim struggling up to his feet. "M-Michael! Can you make like the bloomin' wind?"

"Nnngh.. …Right now, all I feel like doing is breaking wind. Owww—My chest, for the love of—nngh—God… …"

"Fetch, ya namby-pamby!" she tosses the communicator. Fwooosh!

My jaw drops as I watch it fly through the air.

"Yeah yeah…" Snatch! The man in blue catches it with silver-tipped fingers. "Got it!"

"Now go! On your bike!" the girl shrieks before whipping out two tonfas—Sw-Swiish!—And diving down at me with both weapons. "We'll keep 'em company while you find the girl! RAUGH!"

I gasp and deflect with Myrkblade at the last second. CLANG! CL-CLANG! CLAAAANG!

In the meantime.. … … "Nnnngh.. …," Robin is struggling to his knees. He looks up and gasps in time to see the young fiend running off into the forest with the communicator. "Dammit!" He looks our way. "Noir!"

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! I'm busy fighting Miss Britain to the death.

Robin gripes and turns to the cowboy. "Bard!"

"Nnnngh… …But Momma, I done told you. The flea market burned down yesterday—"

"Bard! Snap out of it and go after the communicator!"

"Ugh, now why's that thing so damned important—?"

"For the love of God, just use your stupid Wind Song and take him down!" Robin leaps up to his feet and runs across the clearing. "We've gotta recover that thing at all costs! Whoever these punks are, they're not ruining our search!"

"Yeah Yeah.. …. …the usual roundup," Bard holds his breath and takes off down the forest with a burst of magical wind.

"Hey!" the man in metal rushes after him. "Where do you think you're going—" WHAM! "OOF!" He stumbles back, clutching the one vulnerable spot between his armored chest and pelvis.

Robin lowers his kicking foot and slinks into a fighting position. "Hang tight, Noir!" He calls aside to me and my fight. "We've got these creeps."

"You've got yourself a whole new world of pain, that's what you got.. …," the helmeted teen grumbles. "That girl you're chasin' after? She's ours… …"

"Your what? Your target?"

"Our friend," the young man frowns…. …then smirks. He juggles two metal spheres in his hands and sets them on fire with wildly splashing sparks. "And if you won't stop stalking her, then get ready for a can of silverflare whoopass, Boy Blunder."

Robin's eyemask narrows. "There's one thing common about every crook who's ever called me by that name."

"Heh heh…and what's that?"

"The number of compound fractures they end up with…," Robin snarls, then dives in with birdarangs slicing. CHIIIING! "HIYAAAAAAAA!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

The cave opens up.

The quartz gives away to polished marble.

Daylight spills into the once-labyrinthal path.

Starfire and Static emerge first, shading their eyes as they squint out onto the blindingly bright landscape.

"I.. …I-I don't get it," Static mutters. "I thought the facility we were going to was underground too, Fraust."

"Surely.. …S-Surely we must have taken a wrong turn earlier in our subterranean wanderings," Starfire adds.

Fraust comes to a stop behind them. She folds her hands. She sighs. She hangs her head. "I.. ….I-I am sorry, once again.. …"

"?.?.?" Static turns and looks back at her with Starfire. "Say what?"

"I had to do that which was necessary to stop.. …to st-stop further suffering," Fraust murmurs with her lip quivering. But not from the cold seeping all over her. "I need more than your help. And sacrifices must b-be made."

"Fraust.. …What are you trying to pull here?"

Starfire blinks. Her green eyes travel down Fraust's arms and into her hands—"!.!.!" Starfire gasps and points. "Virgil! She has one of our communicators!"

"Whoah!" Static raises a fist of electrical energy. "Girl, you sure had better hand that back over if you knew what's good for you!"

"It's t-too late….," Fraust exhales.

"H-Huh?"

"I.. ….I already used it," Fraust remarks with a sad, yet confident twinkle to her sapphire eyes. She's looking up at something behind the two Titan's shoulders.

But before the alarmed duo can turn around---

VROMMMMMMMMMMMM!

A bright beam of white-blue energy sails in from the blinding, outside world and encases their ankles and feet in solid ice.

CRKKKK-KKKKK!

"Aaaugh!" Static winces and shudders all over.

"Eeeep!" Starfire gasps. She raises two hands to summon starbolts and surge them into her sudden, frozen imprisonment—

VROMMMMM!

The same beam sails in and encases her wrists in 'shackles' of solid ice.

Starfire shivers along with Static. Helpless, the two Titans fall over and roll to their sides on the cave entrance floor. Fraust winces slightly at the sight.

"But… …B-B-But….," Static's teeth chatter. "Wh-Wh-Wh-Who.. …. ..?"

"Do not get the wrong impression of my young protégé, Teen Titans," an emotionless voice electronically echoes. With stomping footsteps, a robotic figure marches up onto the scene. Towering. Menacing. From atop a suit of cybernetic muscle, a translucent glass bubble houses the deadpan, pale face of Mister Freeze. He trains his ice cannon once more at the helpless teens and drones through a speaker system built into his suit: "Fraust is not the one presently abducting you. I am."