Th-Thwump! The blonde illuminkinetick is tossed down onto her fanny besides 'Simon' and 'Michael'.

"Ooof!" She winces, her wrists shackled behind her in polycarbonite handcuffs. She frowns up at Robin.

"So… …," Robin dusts his gloves off and props a foot up on a tree stump, glaring down at the three defeated ambushers as he rests a hand on his knee. "Now that we've got you all thoroughly beaten, what say you give us back our communicator?"

I stand to the side, sharpening Myrkblade as 'menacing' as I can.

Bard is brushing the dust off his hat and muttering something or another about his 'steel horse'.

I'm a little worried for him.. … …

"I'm afraid we can't help you with your bloody little toy, Titan," Leslie spits. "Maybe you should have done a better job of holding onto it!"

Robin frowns. He glares over at 'Michael'. "You. She tossed it to you before you took off for your motorbike. Give it back to me."

"And how far up your ass would you like it, Boy Wonder?" He growls.

"He won't give it to you," 'Simon' shakes his head with a smirk. A beat. ".. … …y-you won't give it to him, will ya, Mike?"

Michael growls.

Robin leans back and sighs. "All right, then. Noir?"

I glance over.

"Gut him."

I bite my lip.

Robin turns and glances at me. "You heard me! Go over there and disembowel him, Noir! Most likely he swallowed it!"

"Skkkt-Hahahaha.. …That munchkin?" Michael grins. "He couldn't even circumcise an elephant with a steakknife if you asked him to!"

"Yeah.. ….I suppose he is a queasy rookie about that sort of stuff," Robin suddenly whips off his utility belt and binds it around my forehead and eyes like a clunky blindfold till I'm blood. "THERE… …Now, Noir. Do your duty."

I take a nervous breath, I step forward with Myrkblade smokily serrated—CHIIING!

I sense Michael shifting and squirming in place. "All right—ALL RIGHT! 'Eesus, I just wanted bragging rights for this day. Not some God-forsaken second belly button!"

"Just give 'em the bloody squawker, Michael. We loss."

"Feh…"

Fl-Flash!

Robin grabs his utility belt and fits it on while picking up the communicator materializing in Michael's handcuffed, silver grasp. "Thank you. Now, do you think you three can explain yourselves?"

"They done dug themselves three graves," Bard mutters, glaring at one fiend in particular. "And they're going to rip denim-boy in three and toss his yellow-bellied-guts in each!"

"Nuts to you, udder-sucker! If we had a round two, I'd fix that gay-ass hat of yours onto your inside-out prostate gland!"

"That's enough outta you—" Robin points—

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I not swing you through enough woodsheds?" Bard stomps forward, shaking a fist and snarling. "What say I take you on a field trip to the nearest Home Depot?.! You can build me a new one to slam you against! And all you'll have to nail the wood together is your nose hair and wrist bones! HA! And guess what you'll have to use as a hammer?"

"BARD! KNOCK IT OFF!"

Michael grumbles.

Bard grumbles.

I take a nervous breath.

Robin paces with the communicator. He glances at a blipping signal flashing in a stationary position and exhales with a bit of relief. "Just where we left them.. …Almost.. …."

"If your teammates so much as hurt a single hair on that frozen lass' head… ..," 'Leslie' begins…

"I'm sure that's beneath them, for whoever's concerned," Robin says.

"Wait—Hold your horses," Bard leans in. ".. …. ..the other Titans are in on this?"

"Starfire is."

Bard blinks. "… …. ….Huh?"

Robin waves the communicator. "She's turned her signal on over the last few hours. She is escorting Fraust through the wilderness Eastward. She has been this whole time."

I do a double-take.

"… … …," Bard blinks. "And you figured this out when?"

"A long time ago," Robin drones. "Soon after we loss track of Fraust's own tracking devices. It's how I've known to have us follow her the entire time."

"Well, why the heck haven't we tried to call her or something?" Bard cackles, arms flailing under his pancho. "Jeez Louise, Robin! That witch could be turning her into a Popsicle by now--!"

"I think Starfire is more than capably aware of the danger she's managing, and I trust her to keep a handle on things," the Boy Wonder says in an emotionless, yet confident tone. "Besides, I don't think she's alone."

I lean my head to the side.

Bard scratches his noggin. "… …who else, then?"

"Besides, that's not the sort of thing Amy would do."

The three of us glance the handcuffed youngsters' way.

"What's that?" Bard inquires.

Leslie hangs her blonde head with a sigh. "Amy.. …'Fraust'.. …."

"So you do know her?"

I roll my black eyes. I charade 'heeeeeere's your sign".

"Yeah," Simon grumbles. "And she's been through enough crap without you would-be-heroes laying the pressure thick on her." He motions with his bald head towards Leslie. "The moment Pulsade here caught sight of the two Titans dragging her through the woods, the two of us came as fast as we could. But by the time we got here, Fraust had taken them underground like they must have forced her too. So we were out of options, till we saw the likes of you chumps snooping around with your communicator n'stuff…."

"Two Titans?" Bard remarks. A beat. He gives the blonde a wyrd look. "'Pulsade'?"

"Nnngh," the British lady rolls her masked eyes. "'Pulsade'." She nods towards Simon. "'Silverflare'." Michael. "Hull." She glares our way again. "Those were the names given to us… .. …. …when we were enslaved by H.I.V.E."

I jump at the sound of that. I look eagerly Robin's and Bard's way.

Bard folds his arms. "So, you mean to tell us you're in league with those goof-offs we fought days ago in the Jump City shipyards?"

"Hell no!" 'Hull' cackles. "Do they look like our sort of crowd? We ditched them years ago like a bloated appendix!"

"Well, we were tossed out into the night to rot and die," Silverflare grumbles. ".. …. …but somebody else took us in. They plucked out the god dayum contraptions H.I.V.E. had stuck in us. They gave us freedom. But our old friend.. ….Amy…." Simon shakes his head. "Poor chick. She didn't make it."

"And so you come back to the hot water to try and save your melting iceberg of a friend," Robin strolls forward. "Heh, some pals you are. You could have done it sooner and got tangled in the whole group of us Titans. Hell, I'm surprised you didn't even tap into the Jump City Penitentiary."

"Nope," Pulsade smirks slightly. "Turns out, some upstart chap beat us to that."

"Yes… …," Robin takes a deep breath. "… … …and I'm starting to think I know who."

I gulp.. …

"This 'Neo H.I.V.E'… …," Hull begins in a low voice. "All of us have been in deep shit. All of us. But this new group is the total, absolute pits. What we hear they do to kids like us these days is absolutely rotten as Hell. We're not going to let any of them—much less Fraust—go through that if we can help it."

"And it never once occurred to you to get the authorities into it?" Robin glares.

"HAH!" Simon cackles. "Like the Law? Come on, Titans! You should know criminals by now!"

"Oh, we do," Robin says.

Bard smirks.

"… …at least I do," Robin digresses.

Bard's smirk leaves.

Robin grins knowingly at the captured crooks. "Once an outlaw, always an outlaw. And never to be trusted."

"Kid tested.. …," Hull breathes. "Satan approved."

"Then you must know the Titans by now," Robin points sternly. "We've never met a villain that we liked. So, off to Prison with you."

"Typical… …," Pulsade spits. "You know, Yanks, you should be thankin' us! We might actually have spared your two teammates once we caught up with Fraust! But now? Now, Freeze has probably gotten to them first!"

"Heh, whatever," Robin waves them off and turns to walk away—but stops in his tracks. He slowly turns and squints at the fiends. "… …wait.. … …who?"