Well Ladies and Gentlemen its time for another chapter in the adventures of Thomas, and his misadventures in and around the HIVE

It became readily apparent that, informing a professional, assassin, ninja, thing that you peeked at her undies during a life and death brawl, was a bad idea, also that someone was dragging him, that last one was distinctly annoying, also his head felt about three times two times larger than one would find comfortable. A groan of discomfort escaped him, and whoever decided to drag him promptly dropped his ankle, with a grunt Tom leapt to his feet and got an eyeful of the masked ninja (assassin, thing's) back and swishing tail of hair disappearing into the headmaster's office, "y'know for a little thing your pretty strong" he muttered as he wandered after her retreating form and into the gloom of Brother Blood's private sanctum.

The Headmaster was waiting for them, already seated in front of the desk was the snarkily grinning, if diminutive form of Gizmo, the technophiles head gleamed in the dull glow given off by the six thick candles arranged at even intervals around the office, dimly illuminating the walls of book shelves, Tom did his best to identify any of them with little success, Brother Blood watched as the extra-dimensional teenager as he looked about his office, when it became apparent that he was planning to start in on one of the books written in English Brother Blood impatiently cleared his throat, "we're waiting on you, Master Thomas" with a long suffering sigh Tom wandered over and settled into one of the plush chairs keeping his hands away from the arm rests (he'd seen James Bond enough to know that was where the restraints were). Gizmo seethed as he glanced over at the dork who had some months ago humiliated him, the cold rage was still there, mingled only some what with the fear that Brother Blood could tell he wasn't paying *complete* attention to what was being said, his computer rig was recording the entire thing for later review, he continued to quietly glower at Lunatic, Cheshire sighed internally and settled in for a lengthy tirade from the potent psychic and watched the unstable element in the room, Gizmo for his part was fiddling with a hand held game and doing his best to ignore everyone in the room, his fingers flew over the buttons absently as his HUD panned through the various wireless signals and networks hurling him through the non-space of the net and landing him a scant distance from the prison mainframe, with a rather unsettling grin, he muttered "bingo".

Tom watched Gizmo out of the corner of his eye for a few moments taking in the wide grin and shuddering, he caught Cheshire's eye (so to speak) and mouthed F-R-E-A-K, with some some exaggeration, the ninja (assassin thing) gave no indication that she was listening or watching. The Headmaster began with as sigh "Had I any alternatives rest assured master Thomas, I would have sent my three star pupils instead of my...prodigal son, unfortunately for you it seems our current investor has requested you specifically for this particular engagement, I found it odd but considering the money involved I felt it inappropriate to refuse...", Tom tuned out the calm voice of the Headmaster at this point in the monolog, he figured he could catch the important bits from Gizmo's recording if it came to that, while he had never participated in a jail break before he was certain it was your basic infiltration and retrieval. He sat for what felt like an eternity, he began contemplating attacking the Head Master a second time, the room was full of possibilities tall bookshelves standing easily twenty feet high, one good pull and BLAMO! dead man... he frowned and figured that if *he* could dodge a falling book case the Head Master wouldn't have much trouble at all, just as well he thought gazing at the deep mahogany shelves filled end to end with precious knowledge, a shame to damage such treasures, his eyes fell on the desk, another heavy wooden edifice solid black ebony polished like a mirror, the solid reinforced wall behind the old man one solid kick and it would be as a scythe to wheat, a glance at the old man's face was very telling, a slow smile spread across his composed visage his agate eyes unafraid, it was enough to quell the immediate urge to try his luck, the odds were against him after all two people who *could* beat him in a straight up fight as well as one technophile that came damn close, not the best chances.

The meeting came to a close with Brother Blood politely taking Tom aside, "I could not help but notice the lack of weapons and armor master Thomas, perhaps I could be of some assistance, he strode from the office beckoning for the younger man to follow, with a resigned sigh he leapt after the Head Master taking up the steel haired man's stride with a slightly brisker pace, through the winding halls of the Hive. They walked in uncomfortable silence for a brief span, passing halls and door ways in the seemingly endless labyrinth that was the school of villainy, until at last they stood before an elevator, "you've never been to the Hive workshops have you master Thomas?" smirked the older man as he pressed several buttons upon the wall panel causing the doors to whisk open on well maintained tracks, as the pair stepped in a call rose up from down the hall "hold the elevator!" cried a girl dressed in skin tight black pants, a black and yellow striped top that bared most of her impressive abdominal muscles, as she approached Tom noticed with a slight twinge of pride that the dark skinned girl was almost three inches taller than then himself, she smiled cockily down at him from, he noted high heeled boots, he contented himself to the idea that it was artificially enhanced height as he kept his gaze locked evenly with the taller girl, it was a measuring look that left him feeling a bit intimidated, it was the boundless confidence of one who could crush stone in their bare hands, the moment was interrupted when Brother Blood cleared his throat "Bumble Bee, this is Lunatic I don't believe you've been properly introduced" Tom thrust out his hand grinning, the taller girl smiled quite fetchingly and took his hand firmly but not crushingly arching an elegant brow, as he squeezed her hand firmly but politely in return, "nice ta meet you" she intoned, releasing his hand and returning it to her shapely hip just above an odd bit of badly mangled wire, she noted his gaze and frowned "you had better be lookin at my weapons if you wanna keep yer good looks" there was a definite threatening growl in the statement that send Tom's eyes shooting back up to her now frowning features, a cheery grin made its way across his face as he cleared his suddenly dry throat, " your gear seems to have been damaged, playing a bit rough in the gym?" he teased, letting his eyes stray down her impressive form to rest upon her weapons, they were made of the same golden material as Private Hive's shield, the thought of his missing friends sent an odd disquiet into his very core, he mulled the question over until he felt a solid blow strike the side of his head that sent him into the wall with enough force to rattle the elevator car.

When Bumble Bee stormed out of the elevator with a vexed huff (and his head stopped spinning) he turned his gaze to Brother Blood and rubbed his aching head, "what happened to Billy and P.H.? I haven't seen hide nor hair of either of them since getting here, normally they are in the cafeteria during lunch, and its kinda hard to miss Billy, he's sort of loud" chuckled Tom as his head slowly stopped aching, his eyes followed the storming winged girl down the hall ahead of them, her odd insectile wings twitched and fluttered in annoyance, "she's terribly cute when vexed" he mused. Brother Blood arched a brow as Tom stared after one of his top students, his exclamation was plainly audible in the quiet hall, Bumble Bee paused mid stride her wings snapped out straight before she smoothed them back down and continued on her trip at a more hurried pace, "please don't aggravated my students unnecessarily, especially the ones that can smash apart a bank vault with their bare hands" groaned the Head Master as he lead the way to their intended destination, he paused in the doorway of the work shop, the lower levels of the Hive were his least favorite place within his school, the depths always seemed to attract the truly odd, the antisocial brain children, mad chemists, secretive doctors wanting their particular deviance tended to, the sheer foul reek of base thoughts, mingled with flashes of intense inspiration often left the aged psychic's head aching for hours afterward, with a slow shake of his head he stepped aside and allowed the stocky form of his pupil past him into the dry hot depth of the first forge.

"As I understand it, your enhancements often outstrip the capabilities of your body, the flesh of your hands tear when forced through brick, though your muscle and bone can with stand the blow" Tom absently thrust his scarred hands into his pockets, his face flushed as he muttered under his breath, "your point being?". The Head Master never lost his smile, "Master Reinhart!" he called, from an adjacent doorway attached to the rather cluttered common room stepped a familiar cyborg, his rather clunky looking arms whirred as he strode into the room "Ead Masta, tis good ta see you, what kin ah do fer ya today?" drawled the tall cyborg, his left arm rolled smoothly upwards slicking back his hair leaving a faint slick sheen to the already oily hair do, Brother Blood smiled indulgently, Reinhart was perhaps the most stable of the deep dwellers, he had created (or so he claimed) a rather impressive compound that Wayne enterprises had attempted to monopolize, in his fury at their attempted treachery he burnt his lab to the ground, and lost his arms in the process, a small price to pay for protecting what was mine, he had said, but that was unimportant, shaking away the threads of memory, Brother Blood smiled a bit broader, gesturing towards his on again off again pupil "this is Lunatic, as you can see he is woefully unarmored and his hands in particular require reinforcement", Reinhart interrupted "one of dem what, has more strength den structural support, ah've seen it afore" Reinhart gestured to a plaster spattered chair resting against the far wall, "take off ya shirt an sit inna chair, we start wit de hard part" Reinhart drawled leading the way absently dusting off the seat with a hand broom, and brought out a large rectangular mold with an opening near the top that would allow a man's head to fit snuggly through it, if he didn't mind scraping his ears, the now grinning cyborg began mixing a bucket full of plaster, humming a strange tune under his breath as his arms whirred and began to drip more lubricant, "at least it doesn't stink" thought Lunatic out loud as he settled into the grimy chair, by the time Thomas had settled into the chair Reinhart had a bucket full of chalky muck ready to pour into the mold, "dis gon take bout half hour a hand, ya might wan get a magazine or some ought" informed the grinning cyborg politely, Tom shrugged and sighed "I don't have much in the way of entertainment options at hand" Reinhart grinned and said "try an keep still anyroad, ya?" before pouring the chalky plaster into the container, Tom thrust his hand upto the elbow into the box and spread his fingers settling into his seat for a long wait, as he let his eyes wander the room he noted Reinhart had vanished from the room back behind the curtain he had first appeared from.

After about five minutes, in which Tom listened to Reinhart wander around his, lab?, bedroom?, workshop?, whatever, fiddling with who knows what behind the curtain, it was at that point a familiar thin frame in a black and silver suit strolled past the door and stopped as though he had struck a wall, it took Tom a moment to recognize the fellow, the neatly trimmed goatee, the narrowed manic eyes (a VERY common trait in the HIVE), the over sized gauntlets with their strange focusing array, he smiled broadly as the name burbled into his memory, "Hey Dr Light!" chirped the immobile part time hero, "hows the head? I didn't know you were part of the HIVE, that a recent thing?, ain't ya a little old for school or are you a faculty member or something?" Babbled Tom, excited to have something to do at last, even if it was fend of a deranged bank robber with a photon fixation. For his part Dr Light was dumb struck, of all the places to meet the impudent fool that had bested him in so humiliating a fashion (some part of his psyche fought tooth and nail to forget what happened to him at the claws of Beastboy and Raven, suffice it to say he hadn't worn briefs since) now that they stood less then ten strides apart he was stuck for how to respond, his mouth worked for several seconds, as though he were chewing gum in the rudest manner possible before working upto a sputter of outrage, "y-y-y-YOU!, how DARE you violate this most sacred refuge of the truly brilliant! a fatal mistake one never to be repeated" he raised his armored fists, however before his hands had reached the half way point an Tomas yanked the chair out from under his rump and flattened the good doctor against the now dented wall adjacent to the doorway. As the concussed photophile groaned in an unconscious heap on the floor Lunatic frowned from his position now squatting awkwardly beside the plaster mold "in hind sight I should have just shot him..." he sighed.

An uncomfortable half hour later, followed by Reinhart laughing at the grumbling form of the sometimes hero, Tom replaced the chair he had thrown at the good Dr, there had been a tense moment when Light had regained consciousness, and made to blast Tom where he squatted, but five seconds staring down the barrel of Tom's pistol convinced him to leave without comment, hindsight cheerily informed him that he could have had the good doctor return the hurled chair while they were having their little stand off, though blessedly when the second mold was poured Reinhart remained behind setting up a small card table and producing a bag of dominos as well as a pleasantly swishing bottle of passable rum, as they played, Tom losing badly, Reinhart explained precisely why they needed a mold of his hands, and eventually his torso (much to Tom's dismay) the process of weaving the armor required near exact measurements as each thread was about a micron thick, this allowed for structural stability and increased resilience, blah blah blah blah. Our hero's eyes began to cross at this point but having listened to more than one of Billy's tall tales he knew where to nod and where to ask Reinhart to elaborate, though out of the ramble he learned that the cyborg's nickname (he didn't think of himself as a bad guy really) was Spinner, and that though he didn't have a power per say he had discovered a compound that mimicked spider webs though with several marked differences, and coined a molecular weaving technique that should have earned him a Nobel prize not, as he recounted bitterly had him branded a madman and a vandal. By this time the bottle was mostly done and spinner was pouring a thick gooey brownish gel into each mold proclaiming that they needed only to sit over night then he could begin making Lunatic's new toys.

As it happened they only needed to layer on a bit of fiber glass over the... er important bits then they would make a scale model of his torso area then he would begin weaving the cloth and plates that would make him the sturdiest armor anywhere, Tom was somewhat leery of the belief that this armor would be better than his last set but he was hopeful, any armor was better than none (so said his ribs), so he smiled great fully and politely thanked Spinner for the company and the work he was likely to be occupied with for some time before hastily excusing himself from the bowels of the lab and wandered the halls. He did his best not to get lost in the twisting labyrinth of the HIVE's lower levels, it was quieter down here, a rhythmic thrumming of some manner of pump, or valve system, its slow steady beat was oddly comforting, the lack of people down in the depths was likewise soothing, as he wandered, he adjusted his stride resting each foot fall as gently as possible so as to minimize the noise of his steps, as he drifted along, growing less and less concerned with where he was or where he was going, falling into a near daze, his feet ghosted along the floor plates for a small eternity as the on/off hero's thoughts returned to him and ventured into dark territory thoughts, plans of revenge, well maybe not revenge exactly but something had to be done about brother blood, the threat to his newly discovered sanity shook him in a very disconcerting manner, his current armament was simply not sufficient to dealing with the task, if the head master could stop a high caliber pistol round he'd either need a bigger gun, or some help in dealing with the rather impressive psychic, he was hesitant to involve the Titans, some fragment of pride warring with his common sense, his musings continued for some time and distance, plans each more hare brained and (even in his mind) unlikely to succeed, until he felt a cool hand tap him on the shoulder.

Thomas' scream bounced along the length and breadth of the HIVE raising more than a few heads and interrupting several classes, Gizmo in his room paused in his work to look over at the vent in the middle of his ceiling, the hovering spheres around him buzzed like angry hornets as though annoyed, mirroring their creator's mood, the bald technophile grumbled "pea-brained kludge head's annoying even when hes not here" with a sigh he adjusted his goggles rubbing tired eyes for a moment reaching out for the mug of long cold coffee and emptying the mug in three short swallows, with the new surge of caffeine making its way sluggishly through his veins he replaced his goggles and continued working on sphere number four.

Tom hit the roof, literally, deep thoughts mixed in with the silent arrival of his antagonist caused him to leap straight up into the bundle of pipes and cables that lined the ceiling of the lower levels, denting some of the less rigid lines and landing on his backside with his head spinning, Kyd Wykkyd stared dispassionately down at his dorm mate, who soon regained his feet whirling on the impassive red eyed fiend (in his opinion), "don't do that!" yelped the fearless super soldier, Kyd stared at the indignant form of his dorm mate (whose absence mend days on end of peace and quiet) waiting for him to stop muttering and fuming, once Lunatic had regained his equilibrium and gave his full attention to the silent cloaked specter, said specter produced from the shadows of a nearby panel a small rectangle of grey paper, that was as it turned out a newspaper clipping, he handed the bit of reading material to the confused Lunatic and was about to vanish when Tom grabbed his shoulder, "uh, d'ya think your could take me with you, I have no idea where I am right now" admitted the embarassed sort of hero, with a quiet puff of breath that could almost be considered a sigh, Kyd opened his cloak revealing the impenetrable darkness within, with a greatful smile Tom leapt into the shadows, and slammed head first through the blessedly thin door of a closet.