He and Douglas had been given to a scientist named Dr. 30. They had been separated at a young age, and ever since Andrew had escaped from Dr. 30's "office" in New Jersey he had spent all of his time trying to find him.

Robin was giving him instructions where to turn. They were on their way to meet Batman. Apparently he had found the safehouse that Dr. 30 had last been operating out of.

Batman arrived less than a minute later.

"I'm glad you boys are on time. This is going to have to be fast. They are already moving things out of the safehouse, and headed elsewhere."

Robin and Andrew nodded.

Andrew finally got up the nerve to speak. "Thank you for helping me sir," he said in almost a whisper.

Batman looked at the boy. "It's what I do Andrew."

"Please call me Ferro while we're doing this. I want to be like you two . . . and help people."

"All right then, Ferro. Robin, take Ferro around back and stop anyone else from leaving. Our friend here should be able to handle himself with any vehicles that try to get away. I'm going in through the top."

He heard three vehicles starting below, and a few voices yelling for others to get moving because the last truck would be here soon.

"I hope the boys are ready," he said as he jumped through the skylight to the second floor.

"Get ready," Robin said to Ferro.

Robin dashed towards the loading dock area and quickly climbed up and out of the way.

Ferro "armored up" and waited in the bushes near the end of the loading docks.

Three separate docks opened up and three trucks pulled out at the same time.

The driver jumped out and fired several shots at him, which he dove and avoided. He landed on the ground about five feet from the driver and closed the gap before he could get another shot off. Knocking him out with a solid right hook, he shot another batarang with a line attached to tie up the guy running up the ramp behind him.

He looked at the other truck pulling away from the building. They were going to get away.

"Robin!" Ferro yelled as he knocked two men unconscious.

Robin looked up and fired several batarangs at the men running out of the building. "Go get that truck," Robin said, "I have these guys covered."

As Ferro ran off to stop the third truck, Robin flipped down the infrared lenses in his mask and threw several smoke screen bombs to impair the vision of the others. The overcast evening and the smoke giving him a huge advantage.

He headed down to the first floor, towards the office area. As he got closer, he heard typing, and a whimpering sound.

He peered into the office that the whimpering and typing was coming from and saw a dog sitting on the chair behind a computer. The dogs two front paws were hitting the keyboard as fast as they could.

"Hurry up," came a voice from out of Batman's line of sight, "and turn your voice box on, that whining is getting on my nerves."

The dog looked at him through a makeshift pair of goggles and barked. He lifted a paw towards his mouth and bit down on a switch. " . . . and the human voice is annoying to me Arrrrak." The r's in his speech sounded like growls.

He tore after the truck and caught up to it a couple miles down the highway. He was traveling at faster than 80 mph once he pulled up alongside it.

He grabbed onto the side of the truck and kicked his bike towards the cement median. The bike flipped end over end and broke into hundreds of pieces.

Ferro worked his way to the cab of the truck and yanked the passenger out and threw him into a grassy area along the side of the road. At 50 mph he tumbled for a while, but wasn't too hurt, and the police were giving chase now anyway, so they would pick him up.

The driver however shot at Ferro with his uzi. The bullets bouncing off of him and all over the place made Ferro back off as to not endanger any innocent people in vehicles they were passing.

"Pull over!" Ferro yelled to the driver.

"Never!" the driver yelled back. "You'll never find out what you want to know."

Ferro heard him say something into a walkie talkie. Then he heard a voice that he recognized say to dispose of the evidence.

A minute later he heard a click. He peered around the doorframe to see the driver hit a button on a pop-up console between the seats.

A second later, all he saw was a blinding light.

Soon, there was nobody coming out, and everyone else was unconscous.

He heard a loud explosion in the distance. "I hope Ferro's alright," he said as he ran into the building to find Batman.

The dog jumped from the chair faster than Batman would've expected if he hadn't have been a dog. The other in the room however actually did surprise the Dark Knight.

With a wave of his hand, Batman heard a rushing wind sound and the batarang flew into a wall harmlessly.

"Ah. The Batman has decided to show himself at last," Arak said as he turned to face Batman. He was a Native American, and had his jet black hair pulled into braids. He wore a leather outfit that looked as if it was made by hand.

Batman sized up his opponents. The dog looked like any ordinary dog, except he wore goggles, and could apparently talk with the help of a small device on his neck. The Indian, Arak, looked like a man of his early twenties, in perfect physical shape.

The dog looked between the two humans in the room. "You wanna end this quick so we can get out of herrrre?" he asked Arak.

"Kritter, my little friend, he will not touch you. Now run to the vehicle."

Batman looked at Arak. "That's a little pompous, don't you think?"

"No." Arak lifted his hands and Batman felt a rushing wind building in the room. A little more force and he would not be able to stand.

Kritter bolted from the room.

He groaned and got up. It was gonna take a while to get back to where he had left Batman and Robin, and his bike was totaled.

He looked himslelf over, and changed back to human form.

He groaned again. Nothing was broken, but he was shaken up.

He began the long hike back down the highway. Out of sight from the police coming to investigate.

"What the . . . " he said as he glanced over his shoulder at the dog, who he would later say sounded like he was cursing as he ran by.

He came upon a room that he could see Batman being pinned to a wall by strong winds.

Then the man saw Robin, he shifted the winds to blow Batman out of the room, and proceeded to break though the outer wall. He hopped into a passing car, which Robin would have sworn had a dog behind the wheel.

Batman came to a crashing rest in a pile of boxes that were to be loaded on the last truck. Papers flew everywhere.

"I'm glad I didn't have my money on the bike still," he said as he trudged along.

Robin was already trying to salvage something from the hard drive of the computer that Kritter had been working on.

"It looks like they wiped it clean," he said to Batman as the Dark Knight entered the room.

"Actually, it was the dog that did the damage."

"The dog . . . then maybe I did see him driving the car . . . " Robin said as he looked out the hole in the wall.

"Perhaps he was. He was able to talk."

Robin looked at Batman with a slightly puzzled look on his face. "Talked? That would explain what I heard."

"There's more going on here than anyone thought. Grab the hard drive and I'll get a quick analysis on it. I can do a more thorough search of it at the cave later."

"What about Ferro?"

"Go find him. Get his things from the hotel he is staying at and meet me on top of the Wayne Enterprises building. I have one other stop to make."

He caught up with him a short while later and the two headed back into the city to gather Andrew's things.

Robin looked at his new friend and felt a bit of sympathy for him. The raid on the warehouse had not found his brother, and Ferro had to endure someone sacrificing himself for the man he wanted to get to . . . Doctor 30.

"I just hope I did the right thing," Andrew said.

"You did what you could, and that's what matters," Robin said as he looked at the clock on the table next to the bed.

"Let's go meet Batman," Robin said heading towards the door, "and see if he found out anything."

He finally showed himself after a short while and presented Ferro with a modified motorcycle helmet. It had a metal base to it, making it harder to damage. It also had a wider view plate that allowed him to see as far as he could without it on.

"Wear it in your armored form. It should hold up well in any situations you get into."

Ferro thanked Batman for his generosity. He asked the Dark Knight if he had found anything on the hard drive.

Batman looked at the young man. "Yes. Your brother is in California. There are two possible sights to check out. One in Malibu, and one in Hollywood. I would accompany you there but Robin and I have some business coming up that needs our attention."

Ferro nodded and asked. "How do I get to California?"

Batman handed him a knapsack full of items.

Ferro pulled out a set of keys to a new motorcycle, a wallet filled with cash and a debit card, and a small wrist device that looked like a watch, which was in fact a communications device that Ferro could use to contact Batman or Robin if need be. The last item was a folder with notes on the two sites in California. Full maps of the area, and schematics to the buildings.

Batman looked at Andrew. "You're a capable young man with potential. I know what the loss of loved ones can do. Find where your brother is, and contact me when you do. As formidable as you are, I do not want you going in there alone. There are others with powers that are working for the Doctor. You'll need our help."

"I'll contact you," Ferro said fighting back a welling up tear duct. He was astounded at the generosity of the Dark Knight.

"Batman," Robin said, "I think that's our cue."

Batman looked down and saw three police cars chasing a vehicle down the street.

"The bike is parked in the lot you used when you arrived in town. And the card is good for whatever you need. You'll figure out the PIN," Batman said as he and Robin disappeared over the side of the building.

Ferro watched them swing away. He had a newfound energy to find his brother, and Batman had given him the means to do it.

He looked over the side of the building and wondered how he was going to get down. He threw the knapsack over his shoulder, armored up, and stepped off the building.