The Dark Apprentices (Zero)

Terry was standing upside-down on the ceiling, listening to a man talk on the phone.

"And the government's nuclear locations and launch codes are-"

Secrets.

The man instantly turned around, pointing a gun, but found no one in the room that he could see.

"Who was that?"

The man suddenly crashed to the floor, grounded by a strike from a camouflaged Terry.

Just your friendly neighborhood...eh, she'd probably get mad if I stole that.

He caught the phone that went flying in the air, tapping into the signal as he put flexicuffs on the man.

"Mikael, where are you? Who's there?"

Someone that's going to cause a lot of trouble for you, considering he has your address.

Crushing the phone with a grin, Terry felt proud. His work was getting better and better. What could possibly go wrong?

Zero was watching the wannabe-Batman with a grin, appearing after he crushed the man's phone, clapping slowly, "Well done, faker, but you have the costume all wrong." Zero then walked toward him, grinning, "You don't even have a cape."

Terry watched as Kristoff suddenly appeared, donning his regular appearance of Zero currently. He called Terry a fake, saying that he had the costume all wrong, capitalizing specifically on the cape.

Kristoff Makarov. Or is it Zero? What are you doing here? I know the Titans are letting you help out, but I've got this under control, as you can see.

He stood up. He wasn't really too big of a fan of Kristoff.

"Oh c'mon, Terry, why are you such a stick in the mud? We could be great friends! That is if you were more civil." He then saw the perp, "Well, well, well. Who do we have here?" Zero recognized him almost instantly, he used to work in the Orange Army. His mood switched from joking to deadly serious, pulling out his knife. Zero walked up to Mikeal. "Where. is. Alex. Orange?" Zero asked with a growl, only to be responded by Mikeal spitting in his face, the angered Zero took the knife and sliced Mikeal's eye, "I ASKED YOU A GOD-DAMNED QUESTION! WHERE IS ALEX ORANGE?!"

Kristoff asked why Terry was so uptight, saying that they could be great friends if Terry was a bit more polite. Before he could reply, Kristoff looked at one of his perps, apparently recognizing him. He pulled out a knife, and Terry's eyes narrowed.

Some things never changed. And that was why Terry didn't like Kristoff.

As Kristoff kept interrogating Mikeal for the location of Alex Orange, he saw him getting dangerously close to Mikeal with the knife. As soon as he lunged, Terry reached out and caught his hand before it sliced him.

You know what? We could be friends. But it's because of things like this that we're not. Do you really want to be my friend? Earn my respect? Terry let go of Kristoff's hand. Then prove it to me, right here and now. Prove you're somebody I should respect.

Terry kept a narrowed gaze on Kristoff. What would he choose?

Kristoff let the anger subside and dropped the knife, "I'm sorry, it's just..... I almost had him 2 months ago and he vanished..." He walked to a window and saw a sniper's lens flash against a streetlight, "GET DOWN!" Kristoff hit the deck as the sniper shot Mikeal in the head.

Terry was almost completely shocked that Kristoff decided to let it go, apologizing, and saying that he was only frustrated that he lost Alex Orange two months ago. Suddenly, Kristoff yelled to get down, and Terry followed suit, as Mikeal was shot. Looking in shock at Mikeal, he placed his right index and middle fingers onto the wall under the window that the sniper shot through, using the microphones to try listening across the street to see if the sniper was saying anything or something.

Kristoff pulled out his pistol and looked at Terry and mouth the words: I'm going to investigate, cover me and keep me informed. He then slide a communcator to him and walked out the room and proceeded down the stairs, stealthily taking out the men that were in his way. Once he reached the street he decided to test the connection, "Terry, can you hear me?"

Terry nodded silently, but instead, tapped the communicator's signal into his suit, leaving the communicator alone afterwards.

Yeah, I can hear you. It's going to be hard to cover you if I can't look out the window. Wait.

Terry pressed a button on his belt, calling the Batmobile to his location; it wasn't far. A minute passed, and nothing happened...because it had approached silently, and was stealthed, so therefore not noticed. He had it train its sensors on Kristoff and the area around him with its thermal scans.

You're clear for now.

Kris heard he was clear and began to walk into the building, it was a dingy looking apartment building, the only people who seemed to live here were squatters. He walked around, using his flashlight attached to his pistol to check the surroundings, "Can you guide me to the room where the sniper was?"

Terry nodded, though he knew Kristoff wouldn't be able to see him nod in the affirmative. He pulled up the blueprints to the building Kristoff was in, directing him.

Two doors down on the right, go up the flight of stairs. I'll give you your next instructions there. There's somebody at the top of the stairs, though.

Kris ran up the stairs, blending with the shadows and moving silently. When he reached the top he met a ragged-looking gangster. He didn't notice Kris until after Kris was slipping the knife into his neck, "May God have mercy on your soul..." Kris said quietly. "Okay, Terry, where too next?"

Terry observed that the body fell to the floor, and started losing heat steadily.

Kristoff, you better not have killed him, Terry said threateningly over the line. It's the next door on your left. I don't see any sniper in the room, though.