You let out a stuttered breath at what you were currently feeling, and looked at your arms in awe.

As your gaze moved along your body you couldn't help but smile in absolute glee.

Only, the smile wasn't natural. In fact, it seemed more maniacal than anything else.

Unconsciously tilting your head upwards, you seemed lost in the lights above you as a euphoria rush like no other surged throughout your body.

Letting out another stuttering breath, you slowly turned your head downwards to stare at the knocked out man before you, that smile still present on your fear.

Your body was bursting with an energy you hadn't felt for a long time, and as your heart pumped blood throughout your body at an accelerated rate you found yourself wanting to let it out.

The man below you didn't stir, yet you found your hand reaching out for him, with your eyes widened a craze of madness.

Lightheadedness filled you as your hand flickered over the side of your thumb, ready to press the combination that would cause a blade to shoot out from your hand.

'Stop'

A single one of your thoughts burst through the fog that had settled in your mind, and you let out a gasp
of air as if you were just held underwater.

Placing a hand over your heart as you panted and immediately slouched over, you waited for the euphoria to fade away, and after a few seconds, most of it did.

Eventually, your breathing slowed down to the point where it became slow and intentional, a certain tiredness clear within each breath.

You stood there for a few moments in silence, the only sounds being the faint ones from the room over, or rather the one you'd just been blasted from.

Looking through, you saw Mr.Freeze create an icicle involve from nothing, and exchange a few words with the Titans.

For a moment, for just a split second as your heart rate had yet to calm down completely, you almost gave in to the temptation to rush in there and enjoy yourself amongst the chaos that would ensue.

Reason overcame that urge.
'Calm down, calm down calm down calm down. Static. I have to get to Static, that's why I......'

You looked down at your hands once more, which still slightly shook in excitement.

'..............Hypocrite'

Gritting your teeth, you rushed in an opposite direction of the fight, looking for stairs or any other way you could reach a higher floor, or rather, the auction room.

A tense silence filled the air between the team of Heroes and the Lord, as almost all of the members looked at each other knowingly.

Things would be different this time.

"On with it" He spoke while crushing the icicle in his hand.

Freeze's words caused a chain reaction to spark within his opposition, and immediately afterwards the group dispersed using their abilities.

In a blitz of yellow and red, Kid-Flash appeared behind Freeze and attempted to do some damage with a sped up punch, but it did nothing but slightly move the Lord.

Reacting instantaneously, Freeze let out a blast of ice as he turned around and let it follow the speedster for a short moment as he ran out of the way.

Turning around halfway, Freeze froze the air in front of one of of his hands, blocking the numerous green beams of energy that Starfire threw while circling him.

Freeze then formed an icicle and slammed it while turning around, deflecting the mid-air Robin's strike and sending him backwards.

A blur brought Rose in front of the Lord and disappeared, allowing for her to swing directly at his helmet. However, freezing the air in front of his palm, it stopped the blow from ever reaching him.

Then, his hand glowed even brighter, and through the fist-sized barrier of ice a beam burst through it, which would've hit Rose directly had a streak of yellow and red not moved her out of the way.

'So they're combining their skills and powers? How impressive, but also annoying'

Looking to his left, Freeze saw an entire table coated in black being sent in his direction at extremely high speeds, but he created an icicle once more and moved his hand downwards, cutting through the furniture with ease.

However, as his cut rang true, an arrow went through the slice he made, fitting perfectly in between the two sides as the began to split.

Yet, Freeze already knew it was coming. Stepping to the side, he grabbed the arrow before I could get past him and coated it with ice.

'It took about four seconds last time?' He questioned.

Leaning his upper body back only slightly, Freeze avoided an upwards swing to his helmet, and looked at Robin with amusement.

Before the Hero could react, Freeze Sparta kicked him in the gut with his armoured boot, sending him flying backwards and colliding with one of the room's walls

Then, he tossed the iced arrow at Robin, who was still recovering from getting the wind knocked out of him, and followed it up by throwing his icicle at supernatural speeds.

Just as he thought, Kid-Flash intercepted the ticking time bomb, catching it before it could reach Robin. But he was immediately impaled in the leg afterwards as a consequence to this.

Letting out a gasp of pain, the Hero accidentally let go of the encased arrow as he fell to the ground, letting it drop to the floor.

Right before it exploded though, a black energy surrounded it and threw it to a side of the room no one was on, barely moving the explosive out of the way before it combusted.

Robin was immediately by Kid-Flash's side, looking down at him in worry as blood continued to trickle out of his limb.

"I-I'm fine. I've ta-taken way worse" He managed to sputter out.

Robin looked towards Ravager, who nodded at him. A second later he picked up his downed teammate and ran into a different room, sprinting out of view.

This caused Freeze to let out a disappointed sigh.
"The next generation's Heroes hm? How disappointing. I'd expect those under Batman to be more of a challenge"

Looking down, Freeze found Starfire ducked under his arm and fist an inch away from his suit's side.

On impact a small shockwave was emitted from the blow, causing the Lord to skid backwards, but still remain standing, only being slightly hunched over.

"Do not touch my friends" Was all the Tamaranean said, her eyes glowing green as well as her hands.

Although Freeze's expression never changed, it almost felt like a small smile was on his face.

"Better"

A black portal opened up behind the Lord and out of it came a piercing attempt curtesy of Rose.

Moving to the side, Freeze grabbed her arm and yanked, pulling her all the way through the portal and right beside him.

Then, with has hand on her wrist, he froze it completely.

Letting out a gasp of pain, Ravager dropped her sword, but then caught it with her free hand and swung upwards.

Surprised by the feint, Freeze switched his output so that instead of freezing her hand, a blast of ice came out instead.

The sudden change in force caused the Hero to miss, but one thing Freeze noticed about her was that there was no fear in her eyes, only excitement and determination. And also,
Expectation.

Realizing something wasn't right, the Lord delivered a kick directly to side, his enhanced strength from the suit sending her flying.

Turning to his side he let out a blast of ice with his hands just in time, directly stopping Starfire's own beam of green energy that came shooting out from her eyes.

For a split moment there was a power struggle as both Freeze's ice and Starfire's heated energy continued to collide, only for Starfire to be overwhelmed.

As the ice reached her, for a split second, she was encased mid-air.

Then, a green light burst from within her frozen cocoon, and this time she also used her hands to pour out energy and counteract Freeze's ice.

The room began to get extremely hot, but also cold, becoming a mix of both.

As the struggle continued, multiple black portals appeared around the Lord, and a second later numerous arrows shot out of them, each one embedding itself into his suit.

"Oh dear"

Was all the Lord muttered, before the arrows exploded, which was followed up with Starfire's blast hitting directly, causing an explosion of red and green.

The explosion caused his part of the room to cave in on itself, burying whatever was left after the explosion.

The Tamaranean slowly floated down to the ground, panting in exhaustion at the amount of power she used in such a short time.

Ravager was already there, draping one of her teammates arms over her shoulder that wasn't covered in ice, ignoring the pain coming from it. With her healing factor, it was impossible for her to get frostbite.

All of the Titans looked at the smoke covering the other side of the room cautiously, waiting for any type of sound to come from within.

But it was silent.

Then, Speedy instinctively released his arrow into the debris' direction, testing what would happen.

A second later, a frozen version of the arrow came flying out of the smoke, forcing the Hero to dodge out of the way.

"I must say, I'm impressed with your efforts"

A cold, chilling voice spoke from out of the Titans view.

"In fact, I'll even say you all surpassed my expectations"

Heavy footsteps followed the Lord's statement, and a second later he emerged from the smoke,

There were numerous dents and cuts on his suit from where the arrows struck him, and from his chest a steam rose from a major dent.

"But I'm afraid this is as far as you go"

An overwhelming feeling of dread filled Static as he listened to his former mentor, unable to do anything but sit there.

"They thought that this was their chance, their chance to prove themselves, their chance to show the world that they were ready" Looking downwards, Nightwing moved his gaze upwards to meet Static's.

"Jaime Reyes, also known as the Blue Beetle" His voice broke slightly.

"He was just a kid when I found him. Reports of superhuman activities from El Paso, Texas had increased, and I was sent to investigate. He was someone who's only goal was to help people, even at the cost of his personal life"

"When I met him, he was recovering from a battle he had. Did you know that he would've lost his arm trying to protect that civilian if it weren't for the Scarab? I mean seriously, how reckless can you get" The Hero chuckled slightly, a small, sad chuckle.

"I saw this spirit in him, one that most Hero's don't have. He was someone who's heart reminded me of Superman. Although he still had to work on his confidence"

"So, I asked him if he wanted to join a team I was making, and the second he heard that he started fanboying. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen" Nightwing spoke with nostalgic smile on his face, one that turned expressionless.

"He was stabbed through the heart with a Promethium blade, while being held off the ground by his neck"

The Hero's voice became dull, and he couldn't even look Static in the eyes. But before Static could even sputter out a question, Nightwing continued.

"Tara Markov. Or, Terra"

"A former princess that had been put through experiments order to attain powers, all to "protect her home". And she did, but she couldn't control them"

"When I met her, she was rampaging. The ground shook with every move of her body, but despite that, I could see the fear in her eyes. The uncertainty. The pain" A hint of regret made itself know in the Hero's voice.

"She was misguided. Outcasted and alone. I wanted to help her, to give her a place where she could heal, heal and become the person I thought she wanted to become but was never given the chance to be"

"Slade cut her throat after she attempted to stop him, and in a last ditch effort before she died she buried the entire area in debris, burying herself along with him. A last second change of heart, and one that saved the rest of the Titan's lives"

His voice became bitter as he continued. "I don't know why I didn't see it, why I was too blind, too naive. I thought she was becoming someone who could've been a great Hero. But, I was wrong"

"Tara was a tortured soul, and my biggest regret"

Static felt dizzy. It was too much for him to process, everything Nightwing said was just too much.

"Cassandra Cain. Or Cassy, that was the nickname we gave her"

At this Static felt his blood run cold.

"She was trained to be an assassin since birth, so much so she'd already killed someone before she said her first words. In fact, she barely talked at all since it was seen as a waste of time by her father"

"Batman was the one to take her in, to try to give her a chance to heal. And she was, she was healing. But, she didn't have any friends, and her family was beyond messed up. So, I asked her to join the Titans since I thought having people she could relate to would help"

A sad smile once again crossed Nightwing's face. "Y'know what's funny? She refused at first, but after I asked her to spend an experimental week with them, she agreed"

"I noticed after that, that her eyes which always seemed dull, seemed to shine"

"Although she acted cold, I could tell she loved it there. The Titans even called her the group teddy bear" The Hero stifled a laugh.

"After trying to hold off Slade by herself while the rest of the team tried to gain back consciousness, she was stabbed in the gut. Then, buried alive due to Tara"

Even more questions filled Static's head, but he couldn't speak. It felt wrong to do so.

"Garfield Logan. Beast Boy"

"He was the first one I brought onto the team. The glue of it all. The one who'd laugh even though they wanted to cry"

"When I found him, he was alone. He told me that he used to be on a team, but that they all died. It was just him"

"When he accepted my offer, he told me that no matter what, he wouldn't let anyone on the team die, not again"

"During the fight with Deathstroke, he lived. Which for him, was worse than dying"

"Afterwards he blamed himself for living while watching his teammates die. I know him better than anyone so I know that's what was going through his head" One of his hand made its way to his raven-like hair.

"He just........vanished. We haven't been able to find him since"

Static's mind began to drift back towards that night, that night he went to the Outskirt's hospital to retrieve blood for you.

"One mistake Static. One moment where they thought they were doing the right thing. One moment where all the right buttons were pressed. That was all it took"

He remembered his fight with Slade, how every time he did something, or any time he tried to counteract him, it was all in vain.

"The Titans weren't the same. I could see it. In fact, there was even a meeting between the League to have the group disbanded"

"Then, I found you and Rose. People who had burdens on their shoulders no one should at that age, so I brought you both in"

"So tell me, Static"

He remembered the eruption of power he let out soon after Slade had cut off his arm, only for him to reconnect it back to his body.

"After everything I just told you, did you really manage to escape Slade?"

He remembered pushing himself to his limit, letting out a blast of energy so harsh half of the hospital was destroyed.

He remembered the hole he had made in Slade's mask, and how instead of getting up and killing him, he just stared. It was a stare he'd never forget.

"Or did he let you?"