"I didn't ask for any of this, you know. I didn't ask to be born with a mind craving for science— for truth. Hell, when I was a kid, I wanted to be the wind. Yes, something never seen, but always felt, always giving life...Perhaps that is what she saw in me when we first met. A child with foolish ideas. A man with even more foolish ideals. She did stay with me, though, until the very end of it all...I dare not think about what she would think if she saw me now...risking my life...going against the military...kidnapping children. God. I have become quite foul in these last few years, haven't I? Yes, I do believe I have, and I don't expect to see any bright light when I finally pass on, but I must see my boy before I do. I must. You understand, don't you?"

            The little girl inside the cage stared at the man wide eyed before breaking out in a big smile. The man looked on in mild surprise for a moment, but couldn't help but smile in return. "God, you are quite the listener. I'm sure I have been prattling on for hours now...I need to get back to work."

            "I want to be wind, too." A soft voice spoke up.

            The man looked back towards the cage to see that one of the boys had finally stepped away from the back corners. Though, when he realized the man was looking at him, the child immediately blushed and began to retreat.

            "And whys that?" the man ventured, sitting up from his seat and walking towards the cage.

            The boy only pushed himself further against the corner with the rest of the children.

            "Benny says he wants to be wind cause it once blew the roof off his house," said the girl who remained closest to the man, smile still on her face. "He says he wants to be that strong too!"

            "Did not!" Benny argued, before realizing the man had caught sight of him again and quickly retreated back to the corner.

            "He did!" the girl whispered to the man.

            The man couldn't help but smile again. "Well, you can tell Benny that I think that is very admirab—er, nice of him to say."

            The girl nodded before turning around and yelling out: "Hey, Benny, the man said-!"

            "I heard what he said, Marie!" the boy shouted back, not moving from his corner.

            "Benny's just mad cause he misses his mommy," Marie whispered to the man.

            The man looked on at the cowering children in the cage before sighing and walking back to his seat. "I understand," he said as he sat back down.

            For the next few minutes, he worked at his seat, doing things too complicated and flashy for the young girl to understand, though she watched any way.

            "Hey, mister," the girl called out after a while. "How's this supposed to save Adam?"

            The man flinched at that name, and how the girl had remembered it. He had said it only once, in passing, and he couldn't even remember bringing up the fact that he was trying to rescue him.

            "I...am not sure, to be honest, Marie," he said after a moment of silence as he stared at the bright symbols. "I'm not even sure what is going to happen when it all...starts, but it's my best chance...My only chance..."

            "I understand," the young girl replied.

            The man felt his heart skip a beat. He knew this girl was only a child— she was only mimicking what she heard him say a few minutes ago, and did not know it's true meaning. She couldn't know. But, for one instant, one tiny space in time, the young girl spoke as if she was reading his very heart.

"God, you are quite the listener," the man whispered.

...

"Well, that's another floor down," Red-X commented with a slight bored tone as we stared into a room so filled with holes that it made it look like Swiss cheese.

"You do know how to use that thing, right?" Bosko asked as he looked from the tattered rooms to Red-X's hand.

"Hey, if the roof hasn't caved on us yet, then we're fine," the thief assured, making his way to the stairs. "Up we go, dead weights. Only a few floors left, if the scientist is right."

"It's Bosko," Bosko said for almost the seventh time that night, which clearly showed in the way he glared at Red-X's back. "And of course I'm right."

"Yes, yes, of course."

"Does he always have to get the last word in?" Bosko hissed to me as we approached the stairs to the next level.

            "I don't know, you tell me," the thief answered for me, standing directly in front of Bosko so when crippled scientist turned back around it gave him quite a scare.

            Red-X chuckled before racing up the stairs, his cloak flowing behind him like a living shadow. Bosko mumbled darkly as he limped slowly up after him, using Robin's bow-staff as support.

            "Now I know, for whatever reason, that you can't answer me, so just consider this a rhetorical question," the scientist spoke to me as we slowly ascended the stairs.

             I nodded to show him I was listening.

             "Do all villains have to wear the dark, flowing cloaks and crap? I thought that went out of style years ago."

            I looked quizzically at the back of the man's head. It was an odd question, out of all the ones I could imagine him trying to ask me.

            "I know the look your probably giving me, and yes I know it is a weird question," Bosko replied without turning to face me. He simply continued to ascend the stairs. "To be honest, I have always been interested in being a super hero myself. Probably just in my blood. Cousin of mine was a big time hero— ever heard of a guy named Rorschach?

            I shook my head. A name that strange I would definitely remember if I had heard it before.

            "Never even met the guy myself. Like most people, I only knew him as the man in the coat and freaky mask thing. Anyways, point being, I find it very humorous for a man of my standing and beliefs to be depending on villains such as yourselves."

            "Bore us with your life story when my time isn't so precious," Red-X called down from the entrance of the next floor. "Last time I checked, the only thing keeping you alive is your knowledge of where this scientist might be and, so far, all I am seeing are empty rooms."

            "It's best we make sure not to leave anything unchecked before we reach the room in question," Bosko countered, glaring up at Red-X. "I know the mind of this guy better than anyone, he wouldn't box himself in like this unless he had a way out."

            "Oh, yeah? Well—" Red-X began, though a sudden, violent force shook the very building, almost forcing us to the ground.

            Down below, I heard the distant noise of crumbling construction.

            "Sounds like Bradley is still making progress as well." Bosko muttered darkly.

            Red-X peeked into the room through the doorway. "Gotta watch our steps now. Looks like the roof downstairs caved-in in a few places. There are holes everywhere."

            "'The roof hasn't caved in on us yet, eh?" Bosko mocked, smirking up at Red-X.

            "Hey, it hasn't caved in on us, just around us. Pretty big difference, believe it or not."

            And, with that, the thief disappeared through the doorway.

            "Can't believe I'm finding any humor at all in this. Must be going crazier than I think," Bosko muttered to himself. He rubbed his head before limping the rest of the way up the stairs and through the doorway, with myself following close— but not too close— behind. He did still smell, after all.

            The three of us walked through the darkened halls, being careful to avoid the gaping holes in the floor. After some lengthy prodding, Bosko finally managed to convince Red-X that putting more holes in walls would not be such a good idea. Though, at each doorway we looked into, not a soul was found, just empty desks and lab tables.

            "Okay, I can understand not finding one particular scientist," Red-X commented after we looked into yet another empty room. "But how is it that we are finding absolutely no one in any of these rooms?"

            "Well, soon after our man disappeared, Bradley had almost all of the scientists locked up at the sub level below this building. I'd imagine they are still down there, unless they tried to leave through a door and ended up mashed up inside a wall or something."

            "Cheery thought," Red-X mused as he stepped into the empty room. He ran a hand along the desk, shuffling lazily through the papers scattered on it. "So, while we're here, mind if I ask what a bunch of scientists and the military are doing in this shabby little warehouse in the first place? My...employer seems very interested, but refuses to give me any details."

            I, too, found myself curious about why Blackfire had us running around this near life threatening building. Yet, when I turned to look at Bosko, all I could see was a face of immense shock.

            "I...can't remember..." the shaggy scientist mumbled, staring at nothing in particular as he ran a hand through his thinning hair."Damn him! I spent nearly five years of my life working here on something I can't even remember working on! Damn it!"

            I watched the man struggle with his own memories and couldn't help but pity him. Though, in the back of my own mind, I wondered how long Red-X and I had before our own memories started to disappear the longer we remained here.

            "Well, no sense in standing around here, then," the master thief said, stepping past Bosko and I and into the hallway. "Onto the next—"

            Before he could finish his sentence, another terrible rumble shook through the warehouse. This one managed to tremble with enough force to send Bosko and I to the ground. Not long after, we heard the sounds of crumbling walls once again echoing their force through the air. Only, this time, a scream was mixed in with the noise of the crashing stone and steel.

            A cold wave washed through me as it invaded my head.

            Red-X.

            "Damn it all! The floor has completely caved in out there!" Bosko exclaimed, trying to use his bow-staff to stand back up. He looked over at me, sweat pouring over his face. "We need to get out of this room, it isn't safe in here!"

            I quickly nodded in understanding. Though, no sooner did I stand up, then an earsplitting noise tore into the room. It was the sound of creaking and collapsing metal. Bosko and I stood there, completely still, waiting for the noise to pass. My heart beat pounded almost too fast for me to keep track of.

            Finally, the noise stopped, only to be followed by a low rumble.

            "I have...a bad feeling about this..." Bosko whispered, just loud enough for me to hear.

            An instant later, my entire world came crashing down.

            With the force that sounded like some violent tornado, the entire room seemed to fall from its foundations in a dead drop. Bosko and I were once again thrown into the air, this time with that weightless feeling one gets from going down those really fast roller coasters. A heavy impact hit the side of the room as we fell, sending us both into a wall, smashing the table as we fell on top of it. I heard Bosko cry out in severe pain as I felt the wind leave my lungs.

            It was impossible to get my bearings again. We fell through a shattered mess of furniture and horrible noises. I knew, if I didn't act fast, we were both going to die, and not in the quick, painless way, either.

Another impact hit the crumbling room, taking away the wall Bosko and I had just been rammed into and sending us rolling across the floor. I watched in horror as the opposite wall (the one we were rolling rapidly towards) was instantly taken out by another thunderous force. Bosko was first to go sailing out of the room through the newly exposed hole, and I quickly followed.

            It was a split second of time. Bosko's limp body threatened smash into some sturdy looking railings and other deadly looking supports. With every bit of strength I had left in my beaten body, I reached out a hand and managed to grab the scientist's wrist.

             A sharp pain resounded through me, reminding me all too late of the bullet wound I had taken in my shoulder. Doing my best to ignore the creeping blackness that was now starting to fill my vision, I used my free hand to grasp the cape that billowed around us.

            We were less than seconds away from becoming a bloody mess when I pulled the dark cloak around us. Yet, even as we disappeared to wherever we were being taken, to a horrible blunt object rammed into my forehead. One of the supports I was too late to disappear away from.

            Even before the coldness of teleportation touched my skin, I was pulled down a different kind of blackness. The loud, thunderous noises slowly faded away until they were only a buzz ringing in my head.

...

            "Marie, why are you bein' so nice to him?" Benny asked. "He's just a big bully!"

            They were the only two children who were still awake. The others lay curled up in the darker corners of the cage, the ones furthest away from the man at the desk.

            Marie didn't seem to have heard the young boy. She remained where she was, standing against the bars of the cage, watching as the man on the desk slept. A faraway look lay in her blue eyes.

            After a few seconds of silence, Benny let out an angry huff at being ignored and sat himself down on the cold cage floor, folding his arms.

            "Hey, Benny, you awake?" Marie asked after a while, still not facing away.

            "...Yeah," Benny answered.

            "Did your momma ever tell you the story about the Fox and the Rabbit?" Marie asked.

            "No..." Benny said with a sniff. Thinking about his momma left a sick, empty feeling in his stomach.

            "Do you wanna hear it?"

            Benny thought briefly on this. He had not been able to sleep very well the last few nights. His momma usually read to him every night before he went to bed, her soft voice always putting him to sleep before she could finish the story.

            "Does it have a happy ending?" he asked, hugging his knees to his chest.

            "Mhm," Marie said with a nod of her head. She then turned around and walked over to Benny, sitting cross legged in front of him.

"...Kay," Benny said, staring at the ground.

            "Once upon a time, there was a momma fox and a bunch of baby foxes. They were all a big happy family for a long long time. The momma fox would hunt rabbits and squirrels for her baby foxes and her baby foxes would play and eat and make their momma happy. But, then, one winter, a terrible storm came, and the momma fox couldn't feed her babies, so all of the momma fox's babies passed away..."

            "You mean they died?" Benny asked in a frightened whisper, his eyes wide.

            Marie simply nodded before continuing. "...and the momma fox was very sad. For weeks, she wouldn't eat or drink or anything. The other foxes tried to make her better, they tried making her happy with their own fox babies, but the momma fox only wanted her own baby foxes back. A long time later, while the momma fox was walking through the forest, she found a small baby bunny lying on the ground."

            "The momma fox had not eaten in days, so she was very hungry. She walked up to the baby bunny and was about to eat it, when the baby bunny looked up at her. The momma fox stopped trying to eat the baby bunny, cause she saw that it had the exact same looking eyes that her baby foxes once had. And, instead of running away, the baby bunny walked over to the momma fox and hugged her cause she had the same eyes as the baby bunny's momma who also passed away. The momma fox hugged the baby bunny as well, feeling happy for the first time since she had her baby foxes."

            "...Is that it? That's the end?" Benny asked, after a moment of silence.

            "Yup. The End," Marie said, standing back up and walking back over to her usual spot by the bars.

            "Wasn't that good..." Benny whispered, mostly to himself, as he curled up on the floor of the cell. He soon fell into a deep sleep.