92. For the Queen of Strings part 3

"'The Strung-Up Adventures of the Puppet King'…" (munch) "…a series of short, two-reel films between 1914…" (munch) "…and 1921." (munch) "Directed, written, and produced…" (munch) "…by puppeteer Gregory Mullins." (munch) "A Joe Schenk production until…" (munch) "…it was eventually bought out by MGM…" (munch) "And the rest is history."

The fat fiend known as Control Freak squatted at a metal table in the center of a cramped, dimly-lit interrogation room. The book, messed up video tape, pictures, and other scant documents related to the Puppet King that were recovered from the City Library lay spread before him beneath a rainbow snowfall of bits and pieces of cheese puffs and other assorted junk foods of the crunchy type.

"You said Gregory Mullins wrote the series of silent movies…," Robin spoke. He leaned against the metal table and stared directly at Control Freak's crusty eyes. "Was he directly responsible for the entire production of the Puppet King's movie career?"

"Well if that isn't the biggest understatement of the world, I don't know what is!!"

Sandy stood next to me by some guards on the far side of the room. "Er…that wasn't even a statement. It was a question—"

"Thank you very much, Miss Deconstruct-The-Hell-Out-Of-Grammar-Like-A-Half-Life-2-Pirate!!" Control Freak spat. "It so happens that Gregory Mullins was an Irish-American punk who found the Puppet King in an alleyway at New York City—urban legend says—and he swiftly decided to make money out of the little wooden piece of Bantha fodder!"

"Um….why?" Sandy remarked. "I-I mean…to just up and grab a puppet from a dumpster or something and start making pictures—"

"Er….Gergory Mullins was a pyromaniac or something…heh!!" Control Freak shoved his hand into the bottom, empty corners of his plastic bag of cheese puffs and scarfed them into his mouth. "He just so 'accidentally' tossed the wooden thing into a fire. He was a poor waste of Victorian blood and he wanted to keep warm in the streets!! But legend has it that the Puppet King survived the fire by magic alone and the very same magic that preserved him also consumed Mullins and the man had no more desire but to take the Puppet King into stage and pictures!"

Sandy gasped and glanced at me. "The second phase of the curse being enacted!"

I slowly nodded.

Robin spoke: "Could Gregory Mullins have been under an outside influence?"

"Possibly."

Robin's eyemask narrowed with a frown. "Possibly?!?!"

"If I get a few more bags of cheese puffs, I may remember," Control Freak gave a pudgy grin.

Robin gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He eventually signaled a guard who nodded and temporarily walked out of the room.

"What we're mainly concerned about is just what the general plotline of the Puppet King movies are. They might be an allegory for what the villain is up to now with the Tower, the Titans, and the hostages!"

"What I'm mainly concerned with is just what I'm going to get in return for helping you Tribble Heads!" Control Freak folded his arms, leaned back, and smirked. "Cheese puffs will provide fuel for the brain, but only as long as the brain sees amusement and perhaps even parole in the future!!"

"If you could possibly think that anything you do to help us can right the wrongs of your criminal career—" Robin sneered.

"Oh, I don't expect much!! Not from you!! You and your stiff concepts of mercy that'll make Andorian ears jealous! And it's rather amusing to think that all this time, you and the other Titans have been under the assumption that I've regretted my actions and hated my stay in here!! Well, I'll inform you of this, my finely feathered fruitcake: I've never had a better opportunity to brush up on my Dark Horse comics and Japanese Manga than right here in prison with the stuff I've ordered!! Oh yeah!! Believe me!! A bored mind goes places!! I can honestly insult you vulgarly in fifteen ways in Japanese—which is quite a feat in that the language doesn't even have cuss words………..bastard!"

"Look….I'm sure we can arrange some way for you to get……..er……..g-get more stuff that is pointless and is what you want to get," Robin stammered. "But right now there are dozens of innocent people stuck in that Tower under the Puppet King's threatening heel and if we don't find a way to cancel out this curse of his in less than ten hours, this City will go 'kaboom' and you won't have any lovely wardens wandering into your cell and giving you comics. As a matter of fact, you won't have eyes to read the comics with because you'll be kind of sort of dead."

"I'll be kind of sort of pissed and unreasonable if I don't get my god…damn….cheese puffs!!" WHAM!!

A guard walked up right as Control Freak pounded the table. "Here you go."

"Thank you!! Sheesh….about time we had someone smart here. I thought for a moment that Bird Boy was running the show."

Robin frowned.

Control Freak ripped open the first of a new batch of plastic bags and munched while talking with a muffled, pasty mouth: "So…anyways. Basic plot of the stories is this. You got the Puppet King. Regular wooden Joe on the block. Then you got Mary Lou. His love interest. She's basically an identical twin to Puppet King that Mullins fastened at the last second. Minus the incest, of course."

"Of course…."

"Anyway—" (MUNCH!) "—then there's this big bully of a puppet. Big Dog. That's his name. Cuz he's a walking, bipedal dog. Real dog fur on his puppet body. They didn't skip a beat in those days. In various cliché plots, every two-reeler was about Big Dog stealing Mary Lou's affection and then trying to take advantage of her or kill her or something. Then the Puppet King rides in and saves the day because he's apparently the most badass puppet ever made. Unlike the Popeye cartoons, they never really explain the source of the protagonist's power. Must have been the Pre-War 'American Dream' or some shit." (MUNCH!) "At the end of each movie, Mary Lou and the Puppet King embrace happily—la la la—and he names her the 'Queen of Strings' and asks that they be married."

"The Queen of Strings….," Sandy murmured.

"The plot was the same in every episode?" Robin asked.

"Pretty much," Control Freak munched. "Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Boy turns out to be king of something or the other. Girl gets whisked away by Big Dog. The Boy king chases Big Dog down. Wails on his butt. Saves the Girl. Then makes the Girl his Queen. I think it was some sort of really trippy allegory for aristocratic propaganda. The idea that only a select few people are born with the ability to ascend."

"Ascend?"

"I've seen all of the Puppet King silent movies, okay?" Control Freak munched and wiped his chin with a red, prison sleeve. "But the best one by far was the last one. It's the one Gregory Mullins retired with. 'Strings in the Stars'. There were tiny bits of sound imbedded into the final print. Expensive stuff in those days. In the end of the two-reeler, Big Dog is defeated once again. And to celebrate, the Puppet King and Mary Lou get married and have themselves catapulted on a honeymoon trailer to the stars. Kind of a primitive concept of rocket propulsion. Heh. Anyways, at the end of the film, the Puppet King says, 'Now…my Queen…we shall be one with the stars'. And then they're gone."

Sandy leaned forward. "What happened to the land after they left. Anything?"

"Ha! Funny you should mention that, 'Thelma'! Big Dog had set up a bomb and everything beneath the catapulting honeymooners is blown to smithereens!! The entire puppet wedding ceremony dies! It was Mullins' disgruntled view of Jazz Era society and its self-destruction."

"……"

"……."

"…….."

"Naturally, 'Strings in the Stars' didn't sell well in the theatres," Control Freak chuckled and ripped open another bag of junk food. "But it's considered Mullin's greatest artistic achievement….by whatever crazy critics are out there to give an arm or leg about a silent picture series about a puppet. Heh."

"Uh huh," Robin swiftly turned and faced Sandy with his arms folded. "This is getting us nowhere."

"Is it?!" Control Freak munched with a smirk. He pointed a yellowed, cheesy finger. "I'll have you know that there are enough motifs, underlying innuendos, and production stories regarding 'The Strung-Up Adventures of the Puppet King' to not only give you plenty of parallels to the situation at hand, but also to counteract it! That is what you want, isn't it?"

Robin glared at him from over his caped shoulder. "And you're not about to give that information up, are you?"

Silence.

Slowly, Control Freak stood up. He leaned on the table with two chubby hands, disregarding his snacks. The guards became uneasy. I fingered Myrkblade just in case….

"In the last two-reeler, 'Strings in the Stars', there was one big difference that differentiated Big Dog from the Puppet King in Mary Lou's eyes."

Robin leaned in. "And that is….?"

"A kiss."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "A kiss?"

"The Queen of Strings would respond to a kiss. The finale of the marriage ceremony. Whoever kissed her, she would know that he was her hero. The two would go to the stars together. Or so that's what destiny seems. For the Puppet King stole her lips—and her heart—and took her to the sky as the world went royally Alderaan behind them."

"So you're saying…"

"This is not about a countdown to the Tower's fusion reactor overloading," Control Freak hissed forth a chuckle and smiled. "It's all about who makes the Queen of Strings swoon first. That's what matters here. Not the Puppet King. Not the hostages. And certainly not this City at risk of a nasty explosion. It's everything for the Queen of Strings. Whoever that is…the fate is in her embrace tonight, in regards to whoever reaches her first."

"And if someone was to…..hypothetically….find whoever this 'Queen of Strings' is before the Puppet King…," Sandy murmured.

Robin scratched his chin. "Then the curse might be broken. Even the Puppet King would be subjected to his own spell!"

A beat.

Robin eyed the fat villain.

Control Freak grinned. "You wanna bet I know more?"

"I'm willing to bet."

"You're willing to find out?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"On you."

"Oh really."

"You have a price, don't you?"

"Are you one to interrogate me? Make me scream forth all I know?"

"Don't tempt me…"

"Then it's settled," Control Freak sat down to his snacks and munched.

Robin frowned. "What's settled?"

"You'll be needing me."

"You don't mean---"

The villain's eyes darted up. "Infiltrating the Tower."

Silence.

I sweatdropped. My black eyes glanced under my shades at Robin…at Control Freak…and at Robin again.

"……………………………………well?"

"No way in the world!!"

"Sheesh!! You're more stubborn than wookie!"

"I've never met a villain that I liked!" Robin frowned and folded his arms. "And you're one of them, lard butt!"

"Oh! Good one!! Love you too, Robin!! Let's see…..you've got the backbone of a 2000 year model Playstation 2 after a couple of tumbles in the drier!!"

"Are you trying to say I haven't got courage?!"

"Haven't you?! You're the Great Boy Wonder!! All I can do by tagging along is help you save your precious Tower—which I might add is most definitely a tackier feat of engineering than Dennis Rodman's pubic hair!"

"Just what purpose would it serve you to venture into our home base?!"

"Ah…but that's just it!" Control Freak lifted a hand and grinned. "It ain't your home base anymore, you brainless hobbit! It's now the puppet show of a Chucky wannabe with one too many termites up his—"

I coughed.

"Anways….think of it as a reward for my gracious assistance to you," Control Freak 'bowed' from his chair with an evil grin. "As if it wasn't enough to be inside the very walls of the legendary Titans' Tower….but to see the star of the silent two-reelers in person." The fat fanboy gasped and stars formed in his eyes as he girlishly cupped his hands together besides his head like someone else we knew and flutterly breathed: "Ah…..my life is becoming more and more complete."

Robin sweatdropped. "You're not going to give up…are you?"

Control Freak smirked again. "And good luck finding any deconstructive information on the Puppet King anywhere else, pal!"

Silence.

Robin sighed and scratched his head.

A beat.

He looked at me.

I shrugged.

"The things I do for this City…," Robin mumbled.

"Woo hoo!!!"

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

"So…," Sandy smirked as she stood next to Robin under the tent where police and law enforcement were establishing a base of operations. "I bet your mentor is turning in his grave."

Robin filled his utility belt to the brim with tools and gadgets for the task at hand. Similarly he had a satchel or two strung along his back under his cape, full of items. His staff was half-retracted and strapped to his shoulders. I was a couple of feet away, equipping myself in similar fashion.

"Batman isn't dead," Robin muttered. "Nor shall he be any time soon."

"Her's certainly gloomy enough," Sandy smiled.

Robin gave the spectacled girl a sideways glance. "You certainly seem cheerful."

"Got to be in the best of spirits for what's ahead," Sandy shrugged. "We'll all need it."

"I suppose so," Robin sighed as he fitted special censors and tiny flashlights to his gloves. "Forgive me if I'm not so cheery on the night that my best friends have been taken over by a deranged marionette puppet bent on having a shotgun wedding."

"No one can blame you," Sandy said. She reached into the trunk of equipment next to Robin and started fitting herself with tools and satchels of….more tools. "I tried to be optimistic when I found out Killer Moth was threatening the Westhaven Opera House. You can ask Noir about that. I wasn't exactly cheerful, but I was calm enough to keep my cool. You're a lot like Raven in this matter, Robin. I've learned a lot about her…and you're both very similar in the way you coolly deal with things."

"Perhaps so. We did found the Titans together---" Robin froze. He raised and eyebrow and his head swiveled about to glance at the girl. One beat. Two…. "What…….are you doing?"

"Getting equipped."

"For what?"

Sandy shrugged. "For whatever lies ahead!" She winked.

"Oh for the love of Ray Charles…NO!!!" Robin grumbled and his thin arms dangled.

"What???"

"You are NOT coming with us!!" Robin shouted. "It's enough that I'm going through the effort of dragging along that tub of a trekkie without having to worry about your safety!!"

"Are you saying that I'm fat?!" Sandy frowned.

"NO!!! I'm saying that you're….that you're…..," Robin shook his head and cackled, "THIS IS NOT A CARAVAN!!!" He spun around and faced my distant position. "Noir, tell her!! Is this a caravan?!"

"No way!! There were only three Magi!!" replied a pudgy voice.

"I WASN'T ASKING YOU!!!!"

Control Freak laughed from where he stood beyond me.

"Listen…," Sandy loaded some more equipment into a satchel tightly strapped to her back. "Control Freak's not the first expert you asked to arrive at the scene."

"Yes, but—"

Sandy raised a finger. "I've been reading the information from the library very carefully. I even have printouts from the book. I can research and assist you during the infiltration."

"But you can assist us over wireless communication just as well!"

"And leave you two with your hands full of him?" Sandy pointed at the fat and temporarily freed Control Freak across the way. "As much as you and Noir are a one man army….heck, TWO one man armies…..you can't possibly babysit for him while possibly kicking butt!"

"This is a very dangerous stealth mission through what is now 'enemy territory'," Robin emphasized. "The risk here is too great for an average citizen like you."

"Robin, I'm a volunteer," Sandy smiled. "I never think about myself."

"………."

"In case you've forgotten, I've been through tough straits with you and your friends before. I-I think I'm up for the challenge. You yourself said you'd induct me into the team---"

"—if only you had superpowers," Robin smirked.

"But look at you! You don't have superpowers, and yet you're the leader of the bunch!"

Robin bit his lip.

"My superpower is up here," Sandy pointed at her skull. She blushed and smiled. "E-Even I'll admit that from time to time."

Robin sighed and ran a hand over his face. "……….you'll promise……to stick close to us……..and do whatever I command you to….."

Sandy saluted cutedly. "Yes, sir!"

"Then start by doing one thing."

She blinked. "What's that?"

Robin swiftly grabbed her glasses, flung them off, reached into a trunk, and slapped on a pair of rubber-reinforced, clear goggles over her eyes. "There. Less likely to go blind on us."

Sandy suddenly had fish-eyed lenses that blinked. She bit her lip. "Tell me….are the Titans fans of photo shoots?"

"Not tonight we aren't."

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

"Robin, we'll keep in communication as much as we can. But we'll have to respond to your signal first. Once you enter the Tower, it's possible that the Puppet King with his access to your computer systems could detect your location. The first thing you need to do is find a way to disable part of your security inside the Tower so that we can communicate! The rest is up to you! It's your home turf! We're all counting on you! Good luck!"

The lieutenant's voice clicked off on the speaker.

I took a deep breath. Under the cover of darkness, I turned around and looked at Robin over a crag of rock.

The Boy Wonder nodded. He signaled behind his shoulder at Sandy.

The four of us were nestled amidst a set of rocky bluffs on the Bayside. Across from the Tower. Far away from the Tower, in fact. In the distance, searchlights and helicopters illuminated the taken-over building in question.

It was here that the Titans had a secret back entrance. A back entrance that only Robin knew about. Even I was in the dark…

Literally.

"Okay…I can understand the handcuffs…," a fat and fully-dressed-in-his-trademark-fanboy-suit Control Freak stumbled over by Sandy's armed guidance. His hands were manacled. And also…. "But what's with the 'Chronicles of Riddick Experience'?!" He grunted and shook his head, as if that would somehow shake off the taut, black blindfold over his eyes. "It'd do me a lot of good if I could see what I'm not seeing."

"It's what you're not supposed to see," Sandy whispered. She looked over through her goofy goggles at Robin and I. It was like a toad blinking. "Are we there yet, Robin?"

Robin and I tried not to snicker.

"What's so funny?"

"I told you this would be a tough excursion," Robin hid his smile…not very well.

Sandy frowned. It came out as a pout. She had been attired in a black ensemble befitting a Navy SEAL or assassin. The bookkeeper of DEATH! "I suppose my bruised ego is supposed to be recompense for my stubbornness?"

"Said it better than I could. Right, Noir?"

I simply smiled. She looked utterly cute.

"Mrmmmmmm," she hummed frustratingly to herself.

"Who's vibrating?" Control Freak asked.

"Shhhh!!!" Robin hissed. He scanned the rocks of the bluffs. "Aw sheesh…where is it?"

I gave him a startling glance.

He sweatdropped and simpered. "It's….um…..been a while since I had this thing constructed."

I folded my arms and tapped my toe.

"Ahem….," he pointed. "Noir…mind taking a look at those rocks over there with your peepers?" he whispered.

I whipped off my shades and squinted my eyes. The endlessly black night became an effortlessly bright day to me. My black optics trailed the rocks. The crags. The curves. The cracks. The cracks……

I wandered forward and ran my hand along a hairline fracture. I leaned my head to the side. I traced what appeared to be an outline to a door of some sort. Impossible to see at night. Most likely difficult to root out in the daytime. As if anyone would be looking for a 'door' to something out here…

I turned and looked over my shoulder.

Robin stepped forward.

I pointed.

"Ah!" he grinned. "That's where it is!!"

"Where what is??" Control Freak cackled.

Sandy elbowed him.

"Ow!"

"Gimme a sec…," Robin whipped out an electrical device and planted it against the 'rock'. It beeped…flashed…then hummed.

CRUNK!!

The rockface popped like the lid of some tiny box. Robin gritted his teeth and pulled at it. He was straining.

I stepped in. CHIIING!!! I whipped out Myrkblade and used it as a lever, prying the long-sealed door open. Cold air rushed up from a metal-lined tunnel leading down with immaculate steps. The back door had been opened.

"Open sesame…," Sandy grinned.

"Pffft!! How cliché!" Control Freak smirked.

Sandy elbowed him again.

"Ow!!"

"Allright, people," Robin turned around. He paused. "…and nerds."

"I heard that!"

"We're going in." The Boy Wonder tightened the packs and satchels strung around his figure and clenched his jaw. "I'll take point. Noir, you've got the back."

"Ha ha ha ha!! Sounds like someone's the caboose!" Control Freak heckled as I walked past him.

Sandy frowned at the handcuffed and blindfolded fiend. "Are you here to help us out or annoy us to death?"

"Hey! A little less conversation, a little more action in our lives, Missy!"

I chuckled.

Robin frowned.

I cleared my throat. I motioned along.

Robin sighed and stepped forward into the dark, metal hallway. "Here's praying we de-mindcontrol the Titans soon….and the first one is Raven."

I couldn't argue with that. I closed the door to the 'rock' behind us with a SLAM!!!

And we were in the dark.

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

Click!!

Robin shone a pale yellow flashlight ahead of him as he trudged the caravan along slowly, cautiously through the dark hallway. Our footsteps echoed against the cold surfacing…and so did our voices.

"So….um….," Sandy looked through her fish-eye goggles at the watch on her wrist as she tugged Control Freak along with her. "We only have nine and a half hours or so, right?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Robin said while shining our spot ahead of us. It was a long, long passageway. "I know the place like the back of my hand. This will lead us to the underground compartments of the Tower where we keep things in storage in the old chambers surrounding the iron supports of the building."

I winced with a gulp.

Robin glanced back over his shoulder. He smirked ever so slightly. "You remember that place fondly, don't you Noir?"

I wheezed and nodded.

Sandy shrugged that off.

"Can someone….I dunno….take these blinders off me already?!" Control Freak complained. "Even Lieutenant Commander Geordie Laforge had more decency than this!! Even as a red shirt!"

"Sandy, will you take that blindfold off him now?" Robin moaned. "If it means he'll shut up about it?"

"Roger, Robin," Sandy said. She suddenly giggled. "Hehehe!! I like the sound of that! 'Roger, Robin'!"

"…….."

"Ahem…..taking the blindfold off now."

And she did.

Control Freak blinked and shook his head in mid-walk. "Whoah!!! Sweet nectar!! This place is like the Death Star Trench—"

A gloved hand pointed at his throat. "Don't you even start."

"Does this…..lead all the way to the Tower?" Control Freak gasped.

"Yup. Straight under the Bay."

"Dude! That's like one bigass marvel of engineering!!"

"Nuts to you if you ever see it again," Robin replied firmly. "This trip is a one-way ticket. Once we've done away with the Puppet King and freed everyone in danger, you're back to prison."

Control Freak grinned. "With my consolation prize, right?"

"H-Has he even named his terms yet?" Sandy remarked.

Robin sweatdropped and continued leading the way. "That's still in debate."

"HA!" Control Freak gestured with his handcuffed wrists. "The reality of the matter is that I'm leaving you in suspense!! You have no idea what my demands are!! But—as a superhero—once all of this is over with you'll have to stay true to your word and grant me whatever it is that I ask for!"

"As long as it isn't the blood of a virgin."

"Who says we were gonna prick you anytime soon, Boy Blonder?!"

Sandy giggled.

Robin gritted his teeth. "How'd you like your hand crushed so that it can't do the Vulcan gesture ever again?"

"And just how do you plan to do that?"

"Cyborg has about five Xboxes in his room. We'll stacked them on top of you…Puritan interrogation style."

"Pfft!! You're bluffing!"

Silence.

Control Freak gasped. "Cyborg has five Xboxes?!?! Dude!! That's awesome!! We could have a Halo Lan party—"

"We are not here to play GAMES!!!" Robin shouted, his voice echoing through the hallways. "There are people hostage…a whole City in danger…and Titans under mind control!! I'm not so kosher about leisure time during an instance such as this!!"

"'Kosher'?! What, are you circumcised?!"

"I've got plenty of sharp objects in my utility belt right now, Control Freak. Don't give me any ideas!!"

"Sheesh!! Ha ha ha!! Okay!! Man, you're more unruly than a lobeless Ferengi!"

"For the last time, will you please shut—"

There was a sharp whistle.

The three ahead of me winced.

I simpered.

I pointed up.

"????" Robin glanced up. A drop of salt water dribbled onto his forehead.

"Um….," Sandy bit her lip. "This is a structurally sound underground tunnel, isn't it?"

"It has to be!" Robin smiled. "Don't worry! Probably just condensation or something!"

More water started trickling down. This time behind me. I nervously spun around and walked away from the forming puddle on the ground.

"God??" Control Freak blinked. "I thought you left me in Sunday School….."

"Hang on a second," Sandy thought aloud. "Could it possible that this thing hasn't been depressurized?"

"What do you mean?"

"This tunnel has been closed for a really long time, right?"

"Right."

"Don't you see?" Sandy gulped. "The pressure change of opening the rock has shifted the air in this tunnel and—"

"Sandy….," Robin held a gloved hand out and smiled. "Cyborg oversaw the construction of this thing. I really don't think he would have overlooked such a possible structural hazard as—"

RUMBLE!!!!

The entire tunnel shook.

I gasped and braced myself with a metal hand against the wall. I panted and looked at the others.

Control Freak whimpered: "Fishy time?"

"Nonsense!" Robin cackled.

SMASH!!!!

Several feet down from which we came, the wall burst in and a fountaining wall of water surged at us in the glow of Robin's flashlight.

Sandy's bulbous goggles bulged.

"Fishy time!!!" Control Freak shrieked.

Robin blinked under his mask. Still as a frozen statue. "Then again….Cyborg did once tell me he sniffed glue as a kid…."

"RUN!!!!" Sandy yelled.

"Forget running!! SWIM!!!"

The two practically tackled the Boy Wonder over in rushing towards the far end of the metal corridor. I was dashing right behind them. Panting. I glanced over my shoulder. Black waters surged and thundered after us. Filling the metal hall with loud chaos.

"Holy….Yoda….Holy….Yoda…." Control Freak puffed while jogging. "PRISON DIDN'T PREPARE ME FOR DROWNING!! I DIDN'T EVEN TAKE ONE STEP NEAR THE SHOWERS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!"

Sandy shouted: "WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE TO FEAR ABOUT???"

"Noir!!!" Robin shouted in mid-run. "We're almost there!! And when I say 'almost there', that means you can clear it in less than twenty!!"

I did a double-take and glanced at the back of his head.

He turned his bobbing face to glance at me over his heaving shoulders. "Time for shuttle run practice!! Take them both and go!!"

My jaw dropped.

"Come back for me after, got it?!"

I didn't even want to waste time protesting. He was the leader.

I blurred my feet with a wave of murk and short forward.

Robin dashed to the left to make room.

I gritted my teeth and hoisted Sandy and Control Freak up by their collars.

"Eeek!!"

"Whoah!!"

I carried them forward with a burst of smoking energy. I glared through my shades and scoured the corners of the darkness with my eyes. And I managed to catch the end of the walkway before I could run us smack into it. My feet skidded to a stop right before a metal series of ladder rungs. There was a hatch overhead.

CHIIING!!

I whipped Myrkblade out and tossed it to Sandy.

"Uhm….wh-what for?!"

I hand-signed: 'Can-opener'. And—SWOOOOOOSH!!!! I throttled back the way we came.

Sandy looked at the sword in her grasps. Like a giant's toothpick. She glanced up at the metal hatch leading to some dry compartment in the base of the Tower. Her goggled eyes blinked. "Oh…….l-lordy."

In the meantime, I was blurring like a rabid bullet back towards the distant speck of Robin in front of the distant warble of rushing water in the distant frame that was the far end of the corridor.

"Now would be a good time, Noir….," Robin sweatdropped as the water kissed at his ankles.

I gritted my teeth. I spread my legs. The heels of my boots dug into the corners of the walls to the floor in time for me to grab Robin's glove.

"Tag!! You're it!!"

SWOOOOOOSH!!! I pulsed murk in time to avoid--

SPLASH!!!!!!!!

The two of us scurried down the hall…..and towards light.

We both gasped at once.

Sandy had opened the hatch.

She dangled her arms down. "Grab ahold!!"

I tossed Robin up like a football.

"WHOAH!!!"

She grabbed his arms and yanked him up.

I vaulted upwards with a pulse of murk, flew through the hatch hole, and landed in a dark chamber besides a very sweaty and drunkenly smiling Control Freak.

"Shinobi's Back!"

I gave him a wyrd glance. I found Myrkblade and picked it up.

"Think the rest of the Tower stands the risk of collapsing in on us or something?" Sandy panted.

Robin gripped a top hatch and pushed it over to seal the water in the flooded corridor beneath us.

"After everything that's happened today….I'd welcome the sky falling if it would."

CLANG!!!

We were in.