I stood in the clearing with Robin, Pulsade, Simon and Michael as Noir blurred off into the trees. I folded my arms across my chest under my pancho. I tapped my foot and rolled my shoulders. I took a deep breath and put my hand over my eyes as the beeping from Robin's electronic work started to grate on me.

"What's wrong with you, cowboy?"

I moved my hand and saw Pulsade's British face looking up at me.

I grunted.

"I'm just fine and dandy."

"Leaving him alone, Leslie." Michael said to her. "He's just missing his boyfriend."

"Hey!" I stepped forward and showed him my metal-knuckled fist. "You wanna sing tenor again, slick?"

"Quiet!" Robin barked at us, never turning away from that silly black box.

I sighed and folded my arms again.

I hated this. Hated the waiting. The inaction. While Noir and I worked solo, I was used to busting in with guns blazing. We didn't take time to think or plan or strategize. We trusted to instinct and our gut. It had worked out pretty well, I thought.

I looked at Robin, working on that black box. It was a waste of time. Why bother than that when we could find the facility the old fashioned way...by actually looking for it.

I was still accustoming myself to the whole team concept. I didn't really like it, to tell the truth. I liked the friends I'd made and the unconventional family that came along with it...But I didn't like having a leader; having someone issue orders down to me. Maybe that's just the gunslinger in me.

I looked out the way Noir had blurred to. I was envious of him at the moment. He was free from the crowd, able to administer justice as he saw fit. I finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Why are you messing with that newfangled thing? Why don't we just go and look for the place. I could do my wind song thing and get a pretty good look at-"

"We decided this was the best way." Robin cut me off.

"Nu-uh. You decided that was the best way. I don't recall-"

"I'm the leader. Deal with it." He continued his work while I glared through his cape.

Michael leaned over beside Simon.

"I'll give you ten to one odds on the cowboy."

"Deal."

I ignored them, turned and stomped off into the woods.

Pulsade glanced at Robin.

"Shouldn't you-"

"He'll be back. Give him his space."

Damn it.

ZZZZZZZZZZ

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

Like everyone else, I leaned forward to get a better look at the surveillance screen, trying to peer through the smoke and dust.

"Hahah!" Gizmo laughed gratingly. "Frickin' fartsniffers bit the dust!"

"Barbeque!" Mammoth roared. His stomach growled just as loud. "Mmm. Barbeque..."

I ignored the imbeciles. I watched.

ZRRRRRT!

The sound came mostly from the screen beside it, showing the inside of the door they'd been ambushed at. The door crystalized and turned to ice before-

CHINGGG---CRASH!

The door shattered into a million pieces. On the far side stood Victor Freeze, along with Amy and the two Titans.

"Blast it!" Chang raged. "They're inside the facility! Zillah-!"

The sliding double doors were already closing behind me.

They sickened me. All of them were intelligent fools...the worst kind of fool there is.

I already knew the facility was lost. Chang wasn't bold enough to defend it and Booker was too much of a coward. It was only a matter of time. But there was still a wild card to be played.

I walked deeper into the doomed facility.

TTTTTTTTTT

Noir blurred from one treetop to the next, a smoky squirrel on a mission while the day died around him. He blurred around the trunk of a tree, materialized and sprint along a broad branch. He jumped off, flipped and landed on a smaller branch further below. He funneled murk into his legs as the tree snapped back against his feet.

He jumped.

FWOOSH!

He rocketed out from among the trees like a dark missile and reached for the sky. His body silhouetted by the fading sun, he peered north with black eyes. The large facility stood stark against the wilderness around it.

Gravity resumed. Noir reached the peek of the jump, back flipped and fell horizontally back towards the ground. Back among the trees, he sprinted down the trunk of a tree. Ten feet from the ground, he vaulted, spun and turned to smoke again. He blurred through the trees towards the facility.

The black ghost that was Noir broke out of the trees and into the clearing surrounded the secret facility.

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

The facility defenses couldn't keep up with him. He zig-zagged twice and headed for the building. He wafted up and through the cracks of a large ventilation fan. He crouched on the narrow ledge inside it, looking down at the building's interior. His black eyes narrowed and he held Myrkblade up with both hands.

FWOOSH!

TTTTTTTTTT

"On your guard." Mister Freeze deadpanned. "It seems we are not welcomed here."

A line of HIVE shoulders in yellow armor and helmets pointed laser rifles at them.

"FIRE!"

ZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAP!

Freeze aimed his ice pistol.

ZRRRRRRRT!

An ice wall appeared between them and HIVE soldiers. The laser shots ricocheted, sending the HIVE soldiers scurrying.

"Amateurs..." He hissed.

With a wave of his hand, he led Fraust, Starfire and Static deeper into the facility.

TTTTTTTTTT

ZAPZAPZAPZAPZAPZAP!

CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANK!

Noir whirled Myrkblade in front of him, repelling the laser shots of the HIVE soldiers.

"There!"

A dozen more soldiers ran in from a higher floor, taking up position on a catwalk to aim down at him.

FWOOSH!

He blurred to the side. He ran up a stack of crates, jumped and grabbed hold of a chain hanging from the ceiling. He arced out far and ran along the wall until he reached the catwalk. He vaulted and ran down the narrow guardrail, Myrkblade dragging at his side.

SL-SL-SL-SL-SLASH!

He blurred to a stop and turned back to the HIVE soldiers on the catwalk with him. The soldiers immediately turned and aimed at him, only to find their barrels cleaved in to.

On the ground floor, a HIVE soldier larger than the rest hefted a rocket launcher on his back. He put his eyes to the sight and aimed at Noir's back.

WHAM!

I drove my metal fist into his gut. With a gasp, he bent over and dropped the rocket launcher into the my hands. I turned, swung it like a golf club and uppercutted him under the chin with it. I tossed it down to the floor beside the downed soldier and looked up at Noir on the catwalk.

"Can't believe you started with out me, Noir!"

Noir waved.

CL-CL-CL-CLAINK!

The metal floor buckled and slid away on the far side of the room. And up out of it came a solder sitting behind a huge cannon. I started to turn-

KABOOOOM!

FWOOSH!

Noir blurred and shoved me out of the way. The cannon shot sailed by helplessly and exploded a huge hole in the wall behind us. I peered through it and saw-

"Noir! C'mon!" I jumped up and ran for the hole with lasers burning through the air. I jumped through the hole into the adjoining room. Noir blurred to a stop beside me.

"Freeze!" I blinked. "I mean...Stop!"

Mister Freeze peered back at us, along with Fraust, Starfire and-

"Bard? Noir?" Virgil stared at us. "What are you guys doing here?"

"...I was about to ask you the same..."

"This is a waste of time." Freeze decided. He turned to Starfire and Static. "The two of you...delay them."

"Hey!" Virgil raised his fist. "There's no way-"

"You don't have a choice. Fraust, come."

They walked off. I ran after them, but suddenly Starfire was in my way. Static joined beside her.

I looked at them, wide-eyed.

"You working for Freeze now?"

"...It's complicated."

Noir ran up beside me. We looked at each other.

"This is bad..."