He was underwater . All around him the gray tides shifted and stirred , the white light of day shinning high above him. It took Robin a few seconds to realize that he was almost completely dry and for his dark, shifting surroundings to solidify into the gray medbay walls.

He looked at the I.V. in his arm and blamed it for his sensation of floating and for the lack of any other sensations at all. He was tired though, he could still feel that. Telling the others about Cadmus could wait... right? Though it struck him as a terrible idea moments before passing out.

Imagination is known to make events worse in one's mind than it truly is, though no amount of imagination could have prepared them for this. Invisibly gliding to the rear of the building the Team got merely a glimpse of the carnage. By all account there weren't many bodies, but the very fact that there were any bodies at all felt like a huge blow to the young heroes.

There was no sense to those that lay dead in the street. None as Miss Martian turned her head from them in horror and the rest watched, almost enraptured. They were old, they were young. Men, women, all shot indiscriminately and now lying dead. Or almost indiscriminately, for they all shared a common trait. They all wore enough red to be seen from both the bioship and from the top of the Daily Planet.

"This is too much." Scout muttered. "Too damn much and they know it."

The bioship landed and the team disembarked, their movements stiff and disoriented, though Scout and Pyro seemed to have no problem moving as they entered the boiler room.

"We stick to the plan." Aqualad said, doing well to cover the slight quiver in his voice. "Miss Martian and Superboy, go to the roof and take out that sniper. Without him the police will gain entrance to the building and will be able to assist in capture and detainment. Artemis you go with Pyro to the other floors and look for anyone who may be hiding, victim or accomplice. Scout you shall accompany me to the fifth floor and help me in disarming the shooter."

With an air of sobriety the group continued to the staircase which glowed red in the emergency light. Miss Martian levitated along with a telekinetically lifted Superboy through the center of the staircase up to the top floor as the rest took the stairs, Artemis and Pyro pausing at the door to the first floor. Upon passing Scout slapped Pyro's shoulder.

"Don't die."

Despite his thick rubber boots the Pyro was amazingly stealthy. Matching Artemis' own pace the two scanned through the empty first floor with their weapons at the ready. The silence was beginning to weigh on her though, and she figured now was about as good a time as any to try and prize some info from Pyro now that he and Scout were separated.

"So, you nervous?" She asked quietly, maybe too quietly as for a couple seconds Pyro acted as though he hadn't heard her. Though, slowly, he shook his head.

"No? Even though we're going up against these crazy guys?" Artemis chuckled. "Though, I guess you must go up against these guys all the time, huh?"

He nodded.

"But, seriously, why? Is it really because of those briefcases?"

Pyro didn't respond, opting instead to check behind a reporters desk.

Artemis frowned. So he still wouldn't talk about the case. She decided to go with a different line of questioning.

"So Scout said there were two Scouts, one for each... team." He nodded. "And there are two Pyros?" Another nod. "Does that mean there are two Medics?" Nod.

"Why?" She asked, a tad more forcefully than she had intended. "I mean what's the point for everything to be so even?"

"Leyy whhn ihh thh bh hrr."

Artemis squinted as she attempted to decipher his garbled speech.

"They... wanted it to be... fair?" She asked slowly.

He nodded.

"Who's 'they'?"

He didn't look at her.

"Whhy Mehhc?"

"Why Medic?"

A nod.

"What do you mean?"

"Whhy nnn Shhhldrrr?"

Artemis' palms began to sweat she was gripping her bow so tight. Why hadn't she asked if there had been two Soldiers?

"Does that really matter?"

"Mmph."

"What do you want from me?" She snapped. "What am I supposed to say? That I'm and idiot? I know that! I was so stupid to think that I could trust him, to trust him because he was 'nice'. It was so stupid and Kid Flash got hurt because of it! I just wanted... I didn't want anyone to get hurt."

She looked at Pyro hoping to see some shred of the person that lay beneath, perhaps even something to suggest that he pitied the girl before him. But what she saw was an indifferent, inhuman mask whose thick lens stare seemed more piercing than any she had been subject to before.

Somewhere above them the sound of gunfire was heard.

Leaving the others behind Miss Martian and Superboy raced to the roof. Though it wasn't so much a race since she was the one lifting him, albeit telekinetically. Superboy hated it, the feeling of being lifted like this. He felt so fake whenever it happened. A fake Superman, flying. Though in this case he chose not to voice any complaints, he could tell by her silence that M'gann had been deeply shaken by the sight of the dead civilians, and he had been too... hadn't he?

Superboy's feet touched the ground and the two stood still, the only thing between them and the sniper being the thin metal door before them.

"So how do you want to do this?" Superboy asked.

"Kaldur said we should avoid fighting as much as possible so... I guess I can phase through and scope things out?"

And giving her a silent nod Miss Martian did just that.

It was an unusually hot day and the sun was shining down brightly. Though Miss Martian didn't even flinch at the gunshot that rang out through the clear morning air as her attention was drawn in another direction. There was no one shooting from the roof. Or rather, there was no person. Several feet from where she stood a machine that vaguely reminded her of a gun on a tripod sat rattling bullets into the crowd below.

Superboy stared at her expectantly when she came back through the door.

"Well?"

"Well, the good news is that it should be pretty easy to stop the shooting."

Superboy frowned ."What do you mean?"

"It's some kind of gun setup with an automatic shooting mechanism."

"It's a robot." Superboy clarified.

She nodded.

"Then this things toast."

In one move Superboy tore the door from its hinges and rushed forward partially acting as a shield for M'gann who followed suit behind him. The tripod whirled around, it's gun barrel pointed right at the red 'S' on Superboys chest. It fired at him and for a few moments it was the same as any other time Superboy had been shot, the bullets bounced off and no harm done. Then he felt it. A sharp burning sensation as one of the bullets pierced his skin.

Scout went up into a crouching stance and slightly peaked over the upturned desk acting as their shield to the other side of the open floor where the BLU Engineer stood poised behind his level two sentry with his shotgun at the ready and about five very freaked out looking hostages sitting a few feet to his right, one of whom had a bloody towel wrapped around her calf. He sunk back down and began tapping on his headset trying to think of the best way to handle the situation.

"So please explain again what those machines are."

Scout sighed and leaned his back against desks smooth wooden legs as he attempted to once again explain the tripods firing at them without actually explaining them to Aqualad.

"Ok, first off they're called sentries, and there ain't anything to 'explain' except they shoot some very nasty bullets at whoever's got on the color red." He gestured from Aqualad's red top to his own. "Meaning you and me."

"Then if we were to remove the red-"

"We'd still have a trigger happy Texan to worry about."

Just as the words left his mouth the door to the stairs flew open and Artemis ran through bow in hand with Pyro only a few steps behind. The rubber soles of Pyros boots squeaked against the linoleum floor as he quickly skidded to a stop and grabbed Artemis by her quiver, roughly pulling her back out of the room just as the sentry spun in their direction and open fired.

"Now kids I'm only gonna say this once," The Engineer said calmly. "Get out."

"We cannot leave without the hostages." Aqualad attempted to reason. "If you return them then I swear I can get the police to work out some manner of deal-"

"We don't want a deal," Engineer spat his voice momentarily becoming harsh. He sighed, trying to recompose himself. "Scout you know what we want."

"No can do hardhat, I don't got it." Scout said not missing a beat.

"Sniper said you do."

Scout had to mind himself so he didn't throw his hands into the air for them to become Sentry bait. "I knew that fucking Aussie's been watching, saw his fuckin' scope light when I got to Pyro. So what, you guys spyin' on us now?"

"Well we don't have no Goddamn choice when y'all keep flitting about and dissapearing!"

"Right, right."

"What's got you so wrapped up with these kids anyway, you really want 'em to get hurt that bad?"

Scout ground his teeth, but for once, held himself back from speaking, his eyes momentarily flicking toward Aqualad.

"You shouldn't get people who aren't in this involved."

"Oh yeah and what do you call that mess out front?" Scout practically yelled. "How's that not getting people who have nothing to do with this involved."

"I- I..." The Engineer faltered and sparred a glance to the people cowering at his feet. "It wasn't up to me." He gave a short laugh, but his voice afterward was a strange sort of desperate that Scout had never heard before and decided he never wanted to again. "You really think if it were up to me that I'd be choosing to do this."

"No I don't." Scout said honestly. "Which is why I'm really damn confused as to why you guys are doing this. These people, the civilians, they're not who we're supposed to be targeting!"

"I know, I just... Look, I can't give you ours but if you hand over your Intelligence then we'll all be able to go home."

"You know that's not true."

Aqualad, who had carefully been watching Scout then noticed a gradual change on the other mans face as the moments of silence ticked by. An expression of dawning, horrified realization.

And barely above a whisper he voiced his epiphany. "He didn't tell them."

The sound of a shotgun blast startled Aqualad before he could even think of discerning a meaning from the words, however the sound originated from the hallway behind them, and the only noise in the direction of the Engineer was the sound of him grunting in pain followed by his boots hitting the ground as he took a few steps back. And then, screaming like a banshee, Artemis ran into the room, bow in one hand and the other clenched tightly into a fist. She ran past Scout and Aqualads small barrier and using the still whirring sentry as a spring board delivered a hard kick to the Engineers jaw.