The T-Car roared through the empty streets on its way to Jump City General Hospital. Cyborg sat behind the wheel, murmuring inaudible encouragement to his vehicle as they drifted through turns and accelerated on straightaways. As he came within sight of the hospital a gasp slipped past his lips, the images on the television failing to do justice to the gutted remains of this place of healing.

A triage center had been crafted from tents, tarps, and volunteered buildings near the hospital. There was a contingent of police officers ringing the building, heavily weighted towards the front of the building's remains. The hospital itself was actually in decent shape. The first floor was a pulverized mess, and all of the windows were cracked in their frames or shattered onto the streets, but the general structure remained sound. In fact (and Cyborg took a moment to run a structural analysis of the building) with a few support columns repaired or replaced the hospital could be fully operational in less than a month.

Regardless, that was not the reason that he was here.

A few questions to the staff swarming about the triage area led him to the man in charge of this operation, a Lieutenant Daniel White. Cyborg was able to track him down with minimal trouble. There was a command tent set up just outside of the police barricade, jury-rigged from some existing lightposts, parking meters, and a blue tarp. Cyborg waited outside of the tented area and tried to catch Lt. White's eye. When the Lieutenant noticed him, he waved a welcome and gestured to an open spot around a crowded card table.

"Cyborg, glad to see you. We can use as much help as we can get here. Let me get you up to speed. The hospital itself is fairly sound. We have a few of our boys going out to procure some temporary supports to help hold up the building. Hospital manager says they have most of the patients accounted for. There was some confusion initially when the ambulances coming in from PS118 unloaded zombies instead of cadavers, and the area around the ER belongs to the dead. We have confirmed reports of patients and staff trapped on the upper floors. They're blocked in by debris on one of the stairwells, and several of the patients are not in any condition to be med-evacced by chopper. The elevators are not an option, the remaining stairwell is reportedly crawling with zombies, and some of the patients and staff are beginning to behave irrationally."

Cyborg nodded as he thought over the information he had just been given. "Lieutenant, I am at your disposal. How can I be most useful to you?"

Lt. White looked at the mechanized Titan appraisingly. He was the oldest of the superhero team, at least 19 if not older. Lt. White was former military, having served during the Persian Gulf War and as a counter-terrorism expert in the JCPD after his honourable discharge. He liked what he saw. Many young soldiers were brash, over-confident, and untested in a live combat zone. Cyborg was none of these things. He stood there, calmly awaiting orders and looking for all the world that he was going to succeed at whatever task he was assigned. It was a confidence born of years spent in the battlefield. Whether those battlefields were in the streets of Jump or the sands of Iraq, Cyborg was a seasoned veteran. After another moment's deliberation, she gestured for the others in the command center to leave them alone momentarily.

Once they were all gone, Lt. White walked closer to Cyborg and began to slowly pace in front of him. "What's your name, son?"

Cyborg quirked an eyebrow. "My name is Cyborg, Lieutenant."

Lt. White shook his head in negation. "Son, I'm about to send you on what very well could be a suicide mission. It's only right that I know the names of the people that may well end up dying, so that even if no one else knows them, I can remember their deeds and honor their memories. I won't tell another soul. You have my word on that." He stopped his pacing and stood in front of Cyborg, somehow managing to appear the taller man as they stood toe to toe. "Now, what is your name, soldier?"

Cyborg looked closely at his temporary superior officer. He saw a lined face, grizzled by years of war and possessing a true honesty about his features. His eyes were compassionate, the color of faded denim, but there was a steely determination in them. They looked exactly like the eyes he always imagined Robin to have. He took a deep breath and responded, "Stone. Victor Stone, sir."

Lt. White nodded, pleased. "Stone," he repeated, "a strong name for a strong man. It suits you well, Victor." He reached out and shook Cyborg's hand, and then got back to business.

"Cyborg," he started, "you have every right to deny this mission. There is a large risk, and I don't feel that any of my men here would be able to pull it off. You, however, have a good chance."

Curious, Cyborg asked, "What's the mission?"

Lt. White loosed a sharp grin, a predator's flash of teeth. "We're going to finish evacuating the hospital."

Cyborg's grin erupted as well. "What's the plan?"

"The insertion team will be small, a two man operation. The objective is to clear an escape route through the remaining stairwell, keep the 419s contained, and extract the civilians, the precious cargo. Priority objective is to keep the 419s contained. Secondary objective is retrieval and protection of precious cargo. Tertiary objective is to come out of this and buy each other a beer afterwards."

"You know I can't buy you a beer, right?"

"Minor details, don't worry about it. You in?"

"Booyah."

"...Booyah."

They nodded to each other and moved out of the command tent and towards the blockade. Lt. White called out, "Officer Erickson, you're in charge here until I get back. Make sure you have some beds ready in the triage center, because we're bringing some friends home with us. If the situation goes charlie foxtrot while we're in there, you will not hesitate to enforce quarantine, am I understood?" A sharp nod and "Yes, sir!" was his answer. Lt. White pulled his firearm, checked the clip, and then holstered it again. He took his asp from his belt and flicked it open to full extension. "We're going to try to do this quietly. The noise seems to attract them," he explained.

Cyborg and Lt. White stood just outside of the hospital and stared into its dark interior. Sparing a glance at each other, they both nodded and moved in.