Disclaimer: Nothing's mine but the plot, Neo, Nemo, and to some degree Rush! And the clones and Methuss belong to a friend of mine! So there!

"Okay, everyone's got their suits, right?" He asked, pulling his Red X mask over his face and smirking despite himself at its familiar weight on his face.

"That we do, dude." Cyborg said, giving him a thumbs up.

"Good." He paused as a sudden thought struck him. "Say, Cyborg, d'you happen to come equipped with a keyboard?"

Cyborg blinked. "Uh…yeah, but what does that have to do with…?"

"Just let me see it. I want to check something."

Glancing at the others, who shrugged, he hit a button, and a keyboard appeared out of his chest.

"Alright, Silas, time to see how well you know me." He muttered, typing something so fast they couldn't see it. A sharp 'ding' sounded out, and he smirked. "Cyborg, your dad was a genius."

"Why?" Cyborg asked, then jumped as his arm suddenly shot out as if it had a mind of its own, opening up. Five pistols shot out of it.

"Because of that." He pulled out two of the pistols and belted them before handing one to the Sorceress and the Original and giving Cyborg the remaining one. "I knew apprenticing myself to your dad would pay off one day."

"You were apprenticed to my dad?"

"Sure—for a few weeks before the accident." He smirked at their incredulous expressions. "Hey, I'm a man of many talents. I've done a lot more than you give me credit for."

"Y'know what…forget it. You're obviously too confusing for anyone to figure out." The Original shook his head and sighed.

His smirk widened.

"Why would my dad put guns in my arm?" Cyborg asked. "Especially for you? For that matter, why would you want guns in the first place? I though you were anti-murder?"

"That's why the bullets are actually sedatives, nets, and…some sort of tazer thing." He shrugged. "I would want them because they come in handy, and he put them there for me because he was a genius and told me a thousand times that you and I'd be great friends, so we should…I think he said 'hang out'." He rolled his eyes. "Silas was a bit senile, but not a bad guy overall. Though I get a feeling at times like this that he could see into the future. Anyhow, how else would I have gotten those earpieces if I hadn't apprenticed myself to him? They were my payment, after all."

"How do you know all these people? Cyborg's dad, Tim Drake…" The Sorceress trailed off.

He shrugged. "I know Tim because he's an orphan, and I knew Silas because he was one of the greatest scientists of all time, and I wanted some of the technology he had. I have a surprising amount of perfectly legitimate sources…" He winked impishly at them. "And nearly three times as many illegitimate ones, though I doubt that's very surprising at all."

"You really are confusing." The Sorceress sighed.

"Yep." He agreed with a smirk and a wink which he was almost positive caused her to blush (he wasn't completely positive because of that blasted hood). "Now then, for anyone who doesn't know how to shoot a gun, just turn the safety off, aim, and pull the trigger. There are three buttons up the side for you to choose which type of bullet you want to use, but if you won't have time to hit one of those first, it defaults on sedatives. If you run out of bullets—which I pray to God you won't—just stick them in the belt of your suit and it'll be taken care of." He nodded respectfully at Cyborg. "Another little bit of genius on your father's part."

"How did he know you and I would become…friends?" Cyborg asked cautiously.

He smirked again. "Well, I'm hoping he didn't and was just taking a wild guess. But Silas was a very insightful guy, so who knows? Maybe he really could see into the future, or something like that." With a light chuckle, he changed the subject before he was asked any more awkward questions to which he didn't know the answer (he didn't enjoy admitting that he didn't know something—though admittedly that didn't happen very often). "Everyone know what they're doing? Get it, got it, good, and all that jazz—let's get going, people."

"For someone who hates group heists, you sure are good at bossing people around." The Original commented.

"Hey, for someone so paranoid, you haven't said much about those clones in the past few days." He retorted.

"Don't get started on that again, Red." Cyborg chided him.

"Yes, mother. But first," he adopted a horribly fake (but somehow recognizable) Ricky Ricardo accent, "Cyborg, you got some hackin' to do!"

(OFFICIALRUSHPAGEBREAK)

"I feel like an idiot in these clothes." The Sorceress grumbled gloomily as they stood in an alleyway beside Methuss Industries, awaiting his decision to begin with their plan.

"You look like an idiot in those clothes." He replied, earning himself a swat to the back of his head. "What? It was a compliment—you're supposed to be a guard, for gods' sake. They all look like idiots. And that's coming from a guy who knows."

"Red, open mouth insert foot before Rae does it for you." Cyborg chuckled.

He turned and winked at them. "And since when have I been known to shut my mouth when it would be better for me if I did?" He asked, smirking, then sobered so quickly it was a wonder he didn't get emotional backlash. "Now, enough chitchat. You ready, dar—Raven?"

She scowled at his almost-slip, but nodded.

"Good. Cyborg, if you would give the kind lady a leg up to that vent." He pointed a few feet over their heads.

"I can fly." The Sorceress pointed out tersely, floating up to the vent in order to prove her point.

"Ruin all the fun." He mumbled just loud enough for everyone to hear him, getting a few chuckles from Cyborg and the Original and a roll of the Sorceress's eyes. "I guess you'll want to use your powers to open the vent instead of using some nifty gadgets, too?"

"That sounds about right." She replied before muttering her spell and quietly tearing the vent off, allowing it to fall very close to his head, but catching it before it hit him and tossing it into the nearby dumpster and smirking when she heard him mumble about 'sadistic sorceresses'.

"Alright, Raven, here goes everything…no pressure, though." He chortled as she crawled into the vent, switching his headset on and waiting for her to do the same. "Alright, go straight for a few feet until you reach a short incline."

A few quiet banging noises. "Okay, I'm here."

"Somewhere between where you are and the bottom of the incline there's a turnoff. It should be to your right. Take it."

Ting, BANG! "Dear Azar—alright, got it."

"You okay?"

"Nearly slid past it, and there was a spider web."

"Ah. Well, keep going until you reach an intersection, and take a left. Almost immediately after that is another incline, and this one's sharper than the last. Go down it, take another left, and let us know when you're there."

There was absolute silence for a few tense minutes.

"I'm here."

"Check through the vent, but you should be above a janitor's closet."

"I am."

"Good. Get out of those vents, dust yourself off, and exit. Then you should be able to follow the exit signs back to us, or just take the opposite directions as I gave you, interposing 'stairwell' for 'incline'."

More silence.

"Why'd you take me so far away from the exit?" She hissed as they heard her shoes clacking against the stairs.

"Less suspicious. Don't tell me all that flying has gotten you out of exercise, darling?"

"Shut it or as soon as this mission is over you'll find yourself in a dimension that still believes in chopping off the hands of thieves."

"Go ahead, I'll never get caught long enough for them to do it."

"You will if I sabotage you."

"I think I'm corrupting you, dear Raven."

They heard a snort, then complete and utter silence—even more than there had been when she was in the vents. Then all they could hear was the hiss of an offline communicator.

"Raven? Raven are you there?"

"Rae, you a'ight, girl?"

"Raven, can you hear me? Raven, answer us!"

They shot backwards as the door opened, Raven leaning against the doorway with a sweet smirk on her face.

"For being so laid back when you're on these jobs or yours, you sure do lose faith fast, Red X." She sneered, twirling a set of keys around a finger.

"Why didn't you answer?" He asked, a deep scowl set in his features.

"Because I was busy banishing a guard or six." She replied nonchalantly, tossing him the keys. "And you'll be pleased to know those are the keys from the head guard, who has access to all areas of the building, should you want to forego the vents."

He snorted. "No. Thieving lesson number one: never deviate from a plan unless it's absolutely necessary. I've seen way too many newbies get jailed that way."

"But—" The Original began.

"Trust me, Max, if your luck seems too good to be true, it probably is."

They began to protest again.

"Hey, who's the master thief here?"

They deflated.

"That's what I thought. You guys won and got to come along, but you're gonna have to lose this round. I know what I'm doing."

Cyborg shook his head. "Well…you're the boss."

"I'll hang onto these just in case." The Sorceress said, hooking the keys to her belt.

"Alright." He pulled out the fake tapes, handing them to the Original. "This is your go, Max. There should be more than enough there, so if there are any cameras I didn't account for you've got plenty of extras."

Max nodded, took the tapes, and disappeared for a few minutes, returning out of breath but with a triumphant grin on his face, giving them a thumbs up as he caught his breath.

He took a deep breath and, without warning, launched himself off the ground, then off Cyborg's shoulder into the vent, smirking at Cyborg's surprised outcry.

He saluted them.

"Don't get caught." He said, and disappeared from their sight into the vent.

(THE RUSH)