Cold. Colder than the natural darkness that surrounded my almost daily journey sunk deep into my core. I hardly felt the guard struggling against my grip. Not that it really mattered if he struggled or not— it was never a long journey.

And, right on cue, the journey was over. In a split moment, the darkness had vanished, revealing the world before us: a solid steel wall.

The guard and I hit the wall with full force. I heard him grunt in surprise before I felt the impact myself. Instantly, I felt the desire for a voice again as pain suddenly vibrated from my shoulder. I rolled for a minute across the cold steel floor, gripping my throbbing shoulder.

"My word, what in the devil was that?" I heard a voice call out, followed by, "Is that...that's Sherman! And...well I suppose that must be a Teen Titan the way he appeared out of nowhere like that."

"You idiots! Don't just stand around gawking! Grab a sheet and tie the bastard up and let's see to the Titan, it looks like he was shot."

Through the haze of pain, I could see several figures clad in white moving around the small room. Two of them grabbed a sheet and made their way to the fallen guard. The third made his way towards me. The pain in my shoulder flared up again as I tried to maneuver away from him.

"Easy there, Titan, I'm only here to help you," the man spoke as he reached me. Kneeling down, he continued, "It looks like you're bleeding pretty badly there."

Confused, I reluctantly pulled my hand away and, sure enough, my vision was filled by red. My hand was coated with a bright shade of blood.

"Now, I'm a scientist, not a doctor, but getting this bullet out should be the first thing to do."

The man then extended a hand towards me but I flinched back away from him, holding out a halting hand. Before the man could try to argue, I used my bloody hand to pull the cape over my injured shoulder. Then, after taking a calming breath, I plunged my hand through the outside of the cape, and into the inside of my shoulder.

I could feel the screams desperately trying to claw their way out of my throat as I dug through the muscles in my shoulder. As soon as I felt the hard metal of the bullet I gripped as many fingers as I could around it and pulled.

"Well, I'll be damned," I heard the man say quietly to himself as I felt the bullet leave my shoulder. I threw the accursed thing as hard as I could.

"Ow!" I heard a shrill voice cry. "What the bloody hell was that?"

"Never mind it," the man beside me snapped. "Did you two take care of Sherman yet?"

"'Course we did, limey bastard is as limp as a noodle right now. Must of hit his pretty little noggin' during that fall."

"Good, good. Now, pass me another sheet, we need to get this Titan's wound cleaned up."

At those words, I held up another halting hand.

"What? Don't tell me you have the power to heal wounds as well?"

I shook my head and began to stand up. The man reached to assist me but I maneuvered myself away from him. After a few moments of stumbling, I managed to stay up on shaky feet and, after looking around the bare room, made my way to the only remaining bed with a sheet. I felt the other scientist's eyes on my back as I tore strips off the sheet and wordlessly wrapped them over the wound in my shoulder. After tying it and making sure it was tight and secure, I let my cloak fall over my body, hiding it from view.

I looked around the small room as my vision began to clear. It had no windows and only one door. Two beds, both missing their covers, were pushed up against one wall; the only other furniture was a small work table in the corner with different colored vials, tubes, and other weird looking sciencey equipment. It reminded me of Gizmo's room.

"So, you are a Teen Titan, then?" the scientist with the British accent asked.

I turned in the direction of this voice to see a fairy tall and lankly man with short, curly hair and wide rimmed glasses. Behind him stood a shorter, but far wider man, who was completely bald and wore circular dark tinted glasses; he too was watching me with a look that I guessed to be curiosity.

I simply nodded to the tall one's question.

"Really now?" the tall one shared a look with the fat one. "I don't remember ever seeing you running around with those other colorful blokes, do you, Stanley?"

The other scientist merely shook his head.

"What does it matter?" a voice spoke up. I turned to see another scientist, shorter than his two companions but with slightly more muscle tone. His face looked as though he hadn't shaved in weeks, and he smelled, horribly.

I tried to ignore this as he walked closer, smile on his face. "Titan or not, he still brought us Sherman. We finally have something that might get us out of this hell!"

"Bastard...scientists..." a low voice mumbled.

"Oi! Speak of the devil!"

"Well, hey there, Sherman. You remember me, don't you?" the smallest of the scientists asked, smile still on his face as he walked over to Sherman and knelt down so that they were eye level.

"...Durmstraste?"

"Ah ah ah, let's skip the formalities. Its Bosko, remember? Just Bosko."

Sherman shared looks with the short man for only a short while longer before his eyes began to trail around the room. He looked over at the scientists, then at me, then at the vials on the table. When his journey ended, he seemed to finally realize his situation and began to try and jerk his arms free from the bindings.

"Now, now, we can't have any of that." Bosko shared a look with the fat scientist. "Stanley, you mind restraining him?"

The man simply nodded before going over to the small table. He silently grabbed a syringe and, inserting it in a vial with yellow colored liquid, extracted the chemical through the needle. He then walked nonchalantly over to the still squirming guard.

Without any words, Stanley stepped one foot over the guard's back and sat down roughly on top of him. Sherman let out a surprised grunt of pain and began to thrash more frantically until the fat scientist held the needle against his neck, the point pressed against his skin.

"Smart man," Bosko spoke as he watched Sherman's frozen form. "What you have mere millimeters from piercing your skin is a very potent serum that, upon contact with your blood stream, will send immense pain straight to your brain. Prolonged effects of this will cause permanent paralysis in most of your body... and that's only what is certain."

"...What do you want?" the guard asked after taking a slow, careful breath.

"We want out of this room, and out of this god forsaken building," Bosko spoke in a hushed but deathly tone as he stared at Sherman. "I know Bradley knows how to get around this place, and you're going to tell me how he does it."

"What? I don't know anything about that!" Sherman said earnestly.

Bosko and Stanley exchanged looks. "Stanley."

"Wait...wait! Please don't!" the guard wailed as Stanley placed a steadying hand on his head. "I...I did over hear him telling his men to use their grenades and detonators... and to be careful of how they used them. But that's all, I swear! I went out to get a smoke break right after that...forgetting for a second about what I was doing and then I got lost as well!"

"So you say..." Bosko muttered, mostly to himself.

"Cheeky bastard is lying through his teeth," the British scientist spoke up, taking a few steps towards the fallen guard."Grenades and detonators he says! And for what? To blow straight through the walls of this establishment? We know as good as our little friend here that the general is a smart bloke—he knows his men are bloody idiots! He would never have them blow through this building; they would have it crashing down on our bloody heads before you could say 'bloody brilliant!' and he knows it!"

"No, please! You don't understand!" Sherman cried when he noticed that Bosko seemed to take what his colleague said into consideration. "This whole thing has gotten into the general's head something bad. He'll do anything to reach the rogue scientist! Before I got lost, a good number of our men had either been found dead or gone missing, and with his new orders to simply blow the place down the numbers will only rise!"

"Well, that's just a damn shame, Sherman." Bosko muttered, his eyes never leaving the guard's.

I watched this entire exchange from against the far wall. My shoulder, down through my arm, had fallen almost completely numb, with the occasional throb of pain, so it was easy to ignore. All of the scientists looked desperate, almost crazed. The guard seemed to have more control, but I could tell it wasn't an easy façade for him to keep up with the sweat nearly glisteniing off his face.

I looked over at the only door in the room, thinking about how my teleportation acted up. Even if it was unlocked, I somehow knew that it wouldn't matter.

"You...Titan, does your presence mean that the Teen Titans somehow learned of what is going on around here?"

My attention broke from the door when I realized that all eyes in the room were suddenly on me. Bosko's being the most intense.

I simply stood there, not knowing how to respond, and it wasn't long before the small scientist lost his patience. "Are you hearing me, Titan?" Bosko asked, standing up and facing me fully. "Are you and the others here to save us from this? Answer me, damnit!"

"Oi, maybe he's that mute bloke. I heard some fellows talking about there being some new Titan who didn't speak," the tall scientist chimed in helpfully.

"That doesn't mean he can't nod or shake his head," the small scientist spoke underneath his breath, his eyes still focused on me. "It is a simple yes or no question after all..."

I felt the cold touch of the wall before I even knew I had backed into it. Bosko took a determined step in my direction.

"So, here's another simple question," Bosko said venomously as he slowly continued to approach. I grabbed the hem of my cloak with my good hand, not entirely sure what would happen in my condition, but prepared to do it none the less.

Bosko stopped his approach when we were only a few feet apart. He sneered. "Are you a Titan...or not?"

I stood my ground, knowing that I wouldn't be able to give him an answer, and knowing that he was more than likely going to attack me. But, before anything at all could happen, I happened to look over past the fuming Bosko, to where Stanley still sat on top of the bounded guard.

Sherman no longer looked frightened. In fact, he suddenly had a look of severe determination.

Before I could draw any conclusions, Sherman burst into action. With what looked like his entire effort, the guard managed to push himself up off the ground momentarily, using his chest and gut. While it was only for a moment, it was enough to catch the distracted Stanley off guard and force him off.

Without wasting a moment, Sherman rolled across the ground, stopping when he reached one of the beds. With another force of effort the guard slowly pulled apart his arms, the sheets tearing loose. Bosko turned back around just as Stanley began to stand back up."

"Stanley—" Bosko began to order, only to be cut off when Sherman removed his now free hands from underneath the bed. I felt my stomach drop when I saw the pistol clenched in one of them. In less than a second, Sherman aimed his pistol and fired, the single shot sailing right through Stanley's forehead.

The large scientist stood there for a moment, surprise and horror showing clear through his tinted glasses, before falling back down to the ground for the last time.

"Damnit, Collins! I told you two to make sure it was tight enough!" Bosko roared, his fists clenched as he glared at Sherman.

"I...I thought...he...I..." the tall scientist, Collins, babbled as he backed into a wall. His eyes rapidly switched from Stanley's body, which began leaking blood, to the gun in Sherman's hand.

"I didn't want to do this," Sherman said, his gun now aimed directly at Bosko. "But you god damned scientists did this, I know you did. Whatever that damned rogue scientist is doing...I can't remember who he is, but I remember you three were his colleagues. You all worked together on that...whatever the hell that was..."

"You remember because you were stationed as our personal guard, Sherman," Bosko said slowly, his eyes now on the gun. "You might not remember this, but you and your daughter came to visit us all the time when we were working. Your girl was very interested in becoming a scientist herself..."

"Don't you dare talk about my daughter," Sherman hissed, his gun now pointing at Bosko's head. "It's because of you and your damn colleagues that she's probably...that she's..."

"Believe me, my colleague acted on his own, he abandoned us and left us in this prison. Like you, I don't remember who he is. I just know that he exists. But we are just as much the victims as you are, trust me."

"Victims!" the guard exclaimed, spitting out the world. "You have no idea what it feels like to lose someone close to you!"

"You just shot my friend in cold blood," Bosko said, his words coming out cold and slow as he glared at Sherman. "I believe I have an idea of what you're feeling."

The guard paused at this, his eyes glancing over at the fallen body on the ground. A large pool of blood was now forming around the head.

"I do what I have to," Sherman said, quietly, his gun still pointed as Bosko as he turned his attention back to the small scientist. "Don't make this harder than it needs to. If you let me knock you out and bind you, I promise that will be the end of it. I just want my daughter."

"If you leave this room, you'll be a dead man," Bosko insisted. "If you walk out that door, you will lose all chances to find your girl, you know that."

"I don't know that!" Sherman shouted, taking a few steps towards Bosko, gun still pointed at him. "Maybe I will run into the general or another guard...or someone..." Sherman looked completely helpless in that moment, but when Bosko took a step towards him he instantly regained his focus and he put his back against the wall, inching his way towards the door.

"I'm going now," Sherman spoke, his gun going between the three of us now as he made his way closer to the door. "No one try anything stupid."

"I'm sorry, Sherman, but I can't let you go. You might be the only chance I have to get out of here," Bosko said, taking a few steps in Sherman's direction.

"Don't take another step!" Sherman cried, his gun now pointing solely at Bosko again. "I swear I will shoot!"

I watched as Bosko halted for a moment, the determination still in his eyes. If I wanted to I could try to go for the guard, to grab his gun, though I knew from experience he was a quick shot, and I couldn't risk another one of those. Thankfully, I didn't have to.

"The bloody hell you are!" a shrill voice cried, and I watched as Collins raced across the small room.

Sherman turned with his gun on a dime, as if he was expecting this, and fired. Collins recoiled from the shot, but his pace hardly faltered and he barreled into the guard, took the hidden syringe he held in his hand and jammed it into Sherman's thick neck.

Sherman let out a howl of pain and Collins fell off of him and on to the floor. Whatever color remained in the thin scientist's face drained away as a red plume began to spread out of the hole in his chest. The guard grunted as he pulled the needle out of his neck, though, as soon as he did, he lost his balance and fell into the wall before slidding down.

"Damn scientists..." Sherman growled as he tried to stand with little success.

"I'm sorry, Sherman, but I can't have you leave," Bosko said with finality. He then turned his attention to me. "Grab more sheets and tie him up, and please make sure you do a better job than my colleagues di—"

Bosko was cut off when a loud shot rang through the small room. The small scientist was then on the ground, gripping his now bleeding leg.

"Damnit, Collins!" Bosko roared to the dead scientist. "The fool didn't use enough serum..."

I looked from Bosko to the guard now sitting against the wall, his gun forever pointed at the remaining scientist.

"You...will....not...keep me...from my....daughter..." Sherman swore, sweat dripping down his face, his massive gut rising and falling rapidly.

I stood, rooted in place, as his finger began to squeeze the trigger.

Do I risk my own life for someone I didn't even know? Could I just watch as he killed another person in cold blood?

Before I could reach some sort of conclusion, the wall behind the guard began to glow red. It was dull at first, but in mere seconds the brightness increased so much that I had to cover my eyes, but even then I could still see red through the blackness. I heard Bosko gasp in a mixture of pain and surprise somewhere near me.

"What...in the...hell...?" I heard Sherman breathe. The brightness then got so intense that even through my eyelids and cloak I thought I was going to go blind.

Then...nothing. The light dulled from behind my eye lids and I know longer heard the guard's breathing or threats.

"Christ..." I heard Bosko gasp before I finally dared to open my eyes.

What I saw took a moment for my brain to comprehend. Both the guard and the wall he had been leaning against had vanished, entirely. The walls, ceiling, and floor that were previously attached to it now simply stopped in mid air, as if there never was a wall they were connected with.

As my brain still tried to make sense about what was going on, a dark cloaked figure stepped into the newly opened space. His skull mask focused immediately on me.

"So this is where you've been hiding, eh?" Red-X asked, hands on his hips as he looked from me to around the room. His focus stopped momentarily on the bodies on the floor. "Killing people now? I wouldn't have guessed that was your style."

I shook my head hopelessly, knowing I couldn't explain even if I wanted to.

"Red-X?" Bosko muttered I looked over to see the small scientist still gripping his bleeding leg, sweat dripping down his face. He then looked over at me. "Guess that means you aren't a Titan, then."

I shook my head, not seeing any point to stall anymore.

"Then... what are a couple of crooks doing in a military warehouse?"

"Well, that's none of your business now is it?" Red-X said with a wag of the finger before stepping away from the room. "This room is a dead end too, I guess. C'mon, Wykkyd, this search will go a lot smoother without having to wonder what sort of trouble you're getting into."

I let out a silent, annoyed, sigh before making my way over to him.

"Wait!" Bosko cried out.

Red-X and I turned our attention to him again. The small man was still standing on his injured leg, though it seemed with great effort. "If, by chance, you're trying to reach the major laboratory, I can take you there. The bastard may have erased my memories of who he was, but I still know where we worked on our major project! If he is going to cause this much trouble over something—I bet you anything it's going to be that."

"You don't say?" Red-X spoke, hands on his hips as he studied the scientist. "It just so happens my employer may be interested in that major project of yours. Mind filling us in on what it is, exactly?"

"There isn't any time!" Bosko nearly shouted, finally succumbing to the pain he fell to the floor, breathing heavily. "He has been loose...for almost a week...If we don't reach him soon..."

Bosko took in a deep breath, his face growing a few shades paler.

"Losing too much blood, eh?" Red-X observed, looking down at the scientist's leg. He let out an annoyed sigh. "We'll, if you're going to be any use to us we're going to have to do something about that leg."

Seeing it as my cue, I began to walk towards the man.

Bosko observed me with suspicious eyes. "You're not going to...stick your hand inside my leg...are you?"

"Oh? You're going to go through all that trouble, Wykkyd?" the thief asked. He raised his hand and an X shaped blade basically grew out from the glove. It then began spinning fast enough to rival a saw blade. "I was going to suggest we just cut the thing off."

Bosko seemed to grow even paler, though not from loss of blood. He shared one final look with me before closing his eyes tight and burying his face into one of his arms. "Just make it quick, damnit!"

I nodded silently before walking over to the scientist and kneeled down beside him. His free hand still gripped the wound. I managed to pry it away with some effort, revealing the rather small hole in his thigh. Without another pause, I pulled my cape over his leg and with one deep breath I plunged my hand through the fabric.

"Son of a-!" Bosko cried out, but he caught himself in his own shout when he realized it was already over. I was already standing over him, a bleeding bullet held tightly between my fingers as I presented it to him.

"I think I'm...going to....faint."

"Not until you show us where to go you're not!" Red-X ordered, ripping off more of the sheet that had already been ripped. He then quickly walked over to the bleeding scientist and wrapped it tightly around his wound.

"Now then, can you stand?"

Bosko looked from Red-X to me, unsure of himself. Taking a deep breath, the small scientist tried to lift himself, but only managed to stay on his feet for no more than a second before falling against me.

"It's all I can do to stand," Bosko muttered, gripping my shoulder for support."Damn, Sherman was always a good shot..."

"Fine, fine, I might have something that will make you slightly more useful," Red-X said mostly to himself as he dug in the bags that clung to his belt. With a satisfied grunt, he pulled out what looked like a small metallic rod. "Here."

Red-X then casually tossed the rod, which quickly expanded to the length of a staff before falling into the extended hand of the scientist. Bosko and I looked at the very familiar weapon, then at the thief who stole it.

"It was a gift from an old friend," Red-X replied casually, a rather large smile in his voice.