It was around midnight when the M Technologies building had a small explosion. A group of jet-packed thieves flew out of the building; their task complete. "Ahh, the T7 chip, digital gold!" A robber said, pulling out the computer chip they had stolen. The group continued their getaway; unaware of Gotham's two vigilantes watching them. "Not this time, guys," Batman began, "Not on our watch," Nightwing finished.

The duo shot out their grappling hooks that connected to 2 robbers and held on as they were pulled off the ground. The 2 robbers noticed immediately and began firing their laser guns at the heroes.

Unfortunately, the robbers were too distracted to see the billboard they were about to collide with and crashed into it. Batman and Nightwing released their holds and used their suits to fly up billboards.

"Split up, we'll cover more ground," Nightwing told Batman. But before they could even move, 2 other robbers flew right into them, making the duo slam onto a building. Batman and Nightwing let out groans and were about to get up to continue their fight but froze as a woman walked by them.

The woman, however, looked as though she was made of blue mist, and she also wore what looked like a uniform with a lightning bolt on it. To their shock, the woman gave them a smile and then flew up into the air.

"What's your hurry, handsome?" the misty figure said as she touched a robber, making them encased in ice. The ice made the jet pack fail, which made the robber begin the fall. Freon quickly flew after the man and grabbed him before he shattered. 2 other robbers were still on the loose but were stopped when a magma monster threw a piece of rubble at them. They began to fall, but a man with elasticity powers stretched his hands and caught them.

The robbers were gathered up on a bridge with the 3 figures who caught them. "Scratch 3 losers," the magma monster said as a crowd of people began to form. At a higher distance, Batman and Nightwing watched the event. "Who are those guys?" Batman wondered. "Who knows, but I have a feeling we'll find out soon enough," Nightwing answered uneasily as she narrowed her eyes at the 3 figures.

~8~

It didn't take long for a news report about the trio to be made. Bruce, Terry, and Eliana were down in the Batcave watching the news program. "Magma, Freon and 2-D man, who is this terrific trio? Tonight, we have the exclusive story. Several months ago at the Bay Ridge Research Center, Prize-winning physicist Dr. Mike Morgan, his fiancé Mary Michaels, and lab assistant Stewart Lowe were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation during a particle fusion experiment."

As the news played the recording of the event, they watched how the trio were struck with beams of radiation. "The result? Their bodies went under dramatic changes." The clip showed Stewart Lowe seeing his hands turn flat, Mary Michaels escaping her lab suit as her body turned to mist and Mike Morgan morphing into a magma giant.

"Now these heroes have promised to use their incredible abilities to clan up Gotham. The government has spared no expense in establishing their new base of operation: The Trio Tower. United in war or crime, here comes the Terrific Trio!" The program finished before Bruce turned it off.

"Jeez, I wonder if they would have been named "The Fantastic 4" if there was a fourth member," Eliana commented sarcastically. "Well, it looks like we'll have a lot more time to work on homework," Terry said. Bruce grunted, "We'll see about that," he commented skeptically.

~8~

The following night, the police found themselves dealing with a hostage situation. Commissioner Barbara Gordon herself was called to the scene in hopes of dealing with the situation. "Wait, just a little more time, that's all I'm asking," an officer said, negotiating on the phone.

Seeing the Commissioner, he gave her the phone, "Hope you have better luck." "This is Gordon,'' Barbara said into the phone. "Finally someone with a real line of credit," a man's voice said. "No deals until I know the hostages are safe," Barbara said sternly.

"Sweetheart, I've already been through this with your cub scouts. I'm looking at my foreign account right now, and still no donation. You better hurry love, the telephone's over in 5 minutes," the man responded by hanging up. "Should we go in," an officer asked. "No, we can't take any chances. That's councilman's Green's family in there," Barbara responded gravely.

"She'll cave in. And if she doesn't....plan B then," the leader said, strapping a bomb to one of the chairs the councilman's wife and daughter were holding. Suddenly, a pair of flat arms wrapped around the man, making him fall to the ground. "Guess who?" 2-D man said as he came out of a crack on the floor. Then Freon burst out of a vent and flew around the room, dodging the lasers the men fired.

She used her powers to blast ice at the mens feet and hands, disarming them. "What's the matter, boys, cold feet," she commented. One final man tried to escape but pushed a button to open the door, Magma was waiting on the other side. "Wrong door, Einstein," Magma said, punching the man straight in the face.

Upon seeing Magma, the councilman's daughter screamed, which made the police rush into the building. The girl screamed again as Magma reached for the bomb and then stopped as he crushed it. "FREEZE!" A group of police yelled, busting into the room but faltered seeing the trio. "Been there done that," Freon commented.

When Magma saw the little girl come outside, he immediately walked forward but was stopped when the girl turned her head in fear. "Please don't let him hurt me!" She cried out. Seeing the distress, Barbara placed herself between Magma and the girl,
"We'll take it from here."

Magma saw the fear on the girl's face, "Right," he commented sadly. Angry, he raised a fist and smashed a nearby police car, much to the officers dismay.

Back at the Trio Tower, Magma was still hurt by the girl's reaction to him. "She couldn't even look at me, and I don't blame her....I'm a monster," Magma said as he angrily smashed some glass. "Look at us, we're freaks," Magma said sadly. Freon flew over to her fiancé to provide some comfort, "Michael, please, don't you ever think of yourself as a monster."

She attempted to touch his hand but pulled back when ice just covered it. "I can't even hold you in my arms anymore," Magma said, looking at her with despair.

"I can imagine that it's hard for all three of you." Howard Hodges, a close friend of the 3, said entering the room. "You wouldn't have to imagine if you'd been there," 2-D man commented dryly. "Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out that budget meeting you went to that night," Magma said, approaching him. "What are you implying?" Howard questioned.

Seeing the tension Freon flew in between the men, "Calm down Michael, it's not like he knew this was going to happen.'' "Mary, you know how much I care for you-all of you. And we're doing everything we can to find a cure," Howard informed them.

"Then let me help,'' Magma suggested. "Michael, you can't even touch a test tube without melting it. Better you stay here, where you can do some real good," Howard said as he left the room.

Magma looked at the floor dejected. All he wanted was a cure that would make them normal again. All he craved was to hold Mary and finally wed her, but he couldn't do either of those things until a cure was created.

Howard quickly made his way out of the tower and approached a waiting car. The door opened up to reveal General Norman, "Well, how are they?" He asked Howard. "Angry, frustrated, confused," Howard answered, sitting. "You promised you could control them," the general replied sternly. "Give them time. It's a big adjustment," Howard assured. "I hope you're right, Dr. Hodges because Heaven help us if you're not," the General warned as they drove away.

~8~

As Eliana, accompanied by Terry and his little brother Matt, walked into the mall, she couldn't believe her eyes. The mall was packed with a variety of terrific Trio merchandise like shirts and action figures. Eliana was livid, she and Terr had been heroes longer, so why don't they have fame like this?

"Stay close, buddy!" Eliana told Matt when he ran ahead.

"So did the old m, n find anything new on Gotham's new heroes?" Terry asked as they walked. Eliana shook her head, "No, but he's still skeptical, which I am to. This whole thing seems weird." Terry couldn't help but agree, "Tell me about it, I just hope we won't have to work alongside them."

Eventually, they caught u,  with Matt, who was looki, g at Magma merchandise. "Hey, look, Magma u, derwear!" Matt said in amusement, picking up the garment. "Schway," Terry commented, looking away uninterested. Suddenly, an employee interrupted, "Yeah, it's great to finally have some clean wholesome heroes the kids can look up to," then walked away. Eliana rolled her eyes at the statement.

"Ha! Those guys are twips, Batman and Nightwing rip!" Matt said, throwing the garment away. Terry smiled down at his brother, "You think?" He questioned. Matt gave him a big smile in return, "Big time!"

Eliana laughed, "How about an ice cream, my treat," she told the boy. "It's nice to know we have one fan," she whispered to Terry. Maybe they didn't need all that fame after all.

~8~

Later that night at the Bay Ridge Research Center, a scientist quickly made his way into Dr. Hodges lab to give some alarming news. "These are the trio's latest DNA scans," the scientist said, handing Hodges a cube. Hodges took the cube and placed it under a microscope. He saw the trio's DNA strands breaking apart and withering away. "Has anyone seen this," Howard asked, leaning his forehead on his hand.

When the scientist answered no, Howard thrusted the cube back to him, "Well run them again, we have to be absolutely certain." As soon as the scientist left the room, Howard turned on the monitor to reveal General Norman, "General Norman, we got a problem."

As the scientist was scanning the cube again, he was unaware of the figure moving along in the shadows. Feeling the presence of someone behind him, the scientist turned around only to gasp at who he saw. The figure quickly threw a chair at the scientist, knocking the man out.

Meanwhile, Batman and Nightwing were in the batplane on patrol. "I don't even know why you bothered to send us out. With the Terrific Trio, there's not even a purse snatcher insight," Terry complained. But before he could go on, the batplane identified something. "Wait, never mind, the batplane just picked up something on the infrared," Eliana cut in. "A fire?" Bruce asked. "Or a weenie roast, we'll check it out," Eliana replied.

They flew into the Bay Ridge Center hangar and parkes the batplane. The duo immediately found a major clue: footsteps made with lava. "Oh no," Nightwing mumbled. "What, what is it?" Bruce asked, alarmed. "Well, it ain't smokey the bear," Batman commented.

They followed the footsteps into some burned wall holes but came to a stop when Magma appeared carrying what looked like a cube. "Magma, working solo tonight?" Nightwing asked innocently. "Move out of my way," Magma grunted before slamming the duo into a wall.

Magma continued to escape but was stopped when a batarang wrapped around his wrist that held the cube. "How about showing two civil servants some professional courtesy," Batman said, holding on to the rope.

Magma shouted in frustration and pulled his wrist, which caused Batman to be yanked forward and crash into a wall. Nightwing leaped and was about to kick Magma, but he grabbed her leg and tossed her into the same wall as Batman.

"And I thought he was one of the good guys," Batman said as he watched Magma get in a hovercraft. "So did I, but let's dwell on that later," Nightwing said as they began to run to the hovercraft.

As Magma began to fly away, the duo blasted into the sky and managed to cling to the hovercraft. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the Trio Tower. As the hovercraft was starting to land, the duo jumped off and stayed out of sight. They watched Magma leave, then hopped down to the ground and followed.

~8~

"I can't believe you broke into the lab," the 2-D man stated incredulously to Magma.

"Why would you take such a risk?" Freon questioned.

"I had to know the truth to get answers," Magma told them. He was tired of being in the dark,
Howard gave them little to no information. He needed answers and didn't regret what he did to get them.

"But Hodges said-"

Magma cut him off sharply, "Hodges lied, see for yourself."

2-D man placed the cube into their computer to analyze, and they all watched in horror seeing their DNA wither away. Even the two spying vigilantes had to try not to gasp. Freon gasped sadly and put her head in her hands. 2-D man stared at his flat hands in anger, "We'll be like this forever." Magma shook his head grimly, "No it's worse than that-" But before he could continue, a drill missile busted into the lab and let out tear gas. "What's going on!" 2-D said in distress.

They watched their monitor show army helicopters coming towards the tower. "We're under attack!" Freon exclaimed. Magma clenched his fist as he knew exactly what was happening, "It's General Norman. We've been double crossed."

In his own helicarrier, General Norman commanded his men in the attack. "Hit them hard, don't let them get away," he relayed to his men. Following orders, many army jets began firing at the tower.

Batman and Nightwing were confused. Why was the army attacking? "Now the army's attacking. I thought they were the good guys, too," Batman said out loud. Watching their video link, Bruce noticed pieces of rubble falling above them, "THE BOTH OF YOU GET OUT OF THERE NOW!" Heeding his warning, the duo tried to move but kept collapsing from the missile impacts. The metal pipe they were on collapsed, sending the duo to the ground hard.

Nightwing quickly looked up to see the pipe about to crush them, so without hesitation, she pushed Batman away. "NOO!" Batman screamed as the pipe and rubble crashed onto Nightwing. Terry heard Bruce cry out Eliana's name but ignored it and rushed to where only her hand was sticking out. "Hold on, I'm gonna get you out," Terry said, panicking as he dug through the rubble.

When soldiers started to pour into the room attacking, the Terrific Trio sprung into action. 2-D man let out a war cry as he stretched his body and delivered many punches, Magma knocked away all the soldiers that were swarming him while Freon flew around freezing men. Magma yelled out as a man shot a laser at his arm, so he quickly pointed the gun up. Unfortunately, the gun fired a laser that hit the roof, sending more rubble where Batman and Nightwing were. "Hey, you okay?" Batman said, looking over his partner's body for injuries. "I'm fine, but we gotta go!" Nightwing exclaimed as more debris fell around them.

They followed the soldiers to the tower's hangar and overheard that the trio had flown out in their hovercraft. "You heard the General, those freaks are history," a soldier told the rest of his comrades. "I don't think so," Nightwing commented and pointed to a nearby crate that had steam coming out of its sides. "You think the car was a decoy?" Batman asked as they approached the crate. They lifted the crate to see a lava made hole in the floor, "Yep, and this is far from over," Nightwing said, looking down.

~8~

Howard was distraught when he received word about what the general had done. The trio were his closest friends, and he betrayed them. He barely paid attention to what the general was saying on their face call.

"I know they were your friends, Dr. Hodges, but you yourself said their conditions were deteriorating, and eventually they'd have become dangerously psychotic," General Norman said before ending the call. Howard put his head in his hands. He just couldn't believe they were gone.

Then he heard shuffling behind him, so he reached for his gun under his desk. When he turned around, the gun was immediately blasted by ice. "Hello, Howard." He looked up to see Freon. Behind him, Magma came charging and slammed a fist into his desk, "We need to talk." They took him to the particle fusion lab where they were transformed.

"We've been reviewing the data on the particle fusion experiment," Freon began, as the cube of their DNA was being analyzed. "According to your notes, you knew about danger," the 2-D man continued. Howard immediately denied knowing, and with shared smirks, Freon froze Howards legs to the ground. Then, the trio began to start the experiment again,

"Wait, what are you doing!" Howard cried out. "Finishing what we started," Magma said. "But you can't," Howard protested. "And why is that?"Magma asked, fixing some of the machines. "You'll kill us all. Once it reaches critical mass, the radiation can't be contained," Howard explained. "Then you knew all along," Freon pointed out.

Howard sighed he knew he had to fess up, "Yes I knew". "That's why you weren't there that night," Freon frowned. "Yes and you weren't supposed to be there either," Howard said, surprising Freon. "What do you mean?" She questioned in shock. "Michael had it all, the brains, the success, your affection. I figured with him out of the way I'd had a chance," Howard revealed, glaring at Magma. "You figured wrong," Freon said, flying closer to Magma.

More radiation poured at the machine. "Please turn it off," Howard pleaded once more. But the trio were past being persuaded, "No," Magma said stonely. "But the whole city will become a hot zone, you're crazy", Howard exclaimed. "I believe your words were 'dangerously psychotic'," 2-D man said monotonely. "We are what you made us", Freon said bitterly. That's when Howard realized they were determined to destroy themselves..... along with him and Gotham.

"Party's over" a female voice called out from above. They all looked up to see Batman and Nightwing flying down at them. The pair threw batarangs but blasted them with ice. One of the batarangs encased in ice crumbled when it hit the ground, to which Howard tried to reach out for.

The duo began to fly around the room avoiding Freon as she flew after them. Nightwing dodged the lava blasts Magma sent her way while Batman bounced off of 2-D after flying into his stretched body.

Batman flew into a way and his arms were quickly encased in ice. Magma was charging his way but before he could slam into the bat, Nightwing rammed into him then broke Batman out of his hold. The duo began to back handspring out of the way of Freon's ice blasts.

Then a pair of arms wrapped out the duo, "Finish them now!" 2-D man told Magma. The duo ducked to avoid Magma's fist and were released when he punched the 2-D man. When freon flew after them, the duo jumped and used their wings to glide around the room dodging her blasts. When they passed Magma, Freon cried out as she accidently froze Magma's legs.

"Follow me," Batman told Nightwing as he flew to a switch that controlled the ventilation system. Quickly, he flipped the switch on and immediately the vents in the ceiling opened. The vents began to pull everything into it.

The pull was so strong Nightwing almost flew into it if Batman hadn't grabbed her while holding onto the switch. 2-D man yelled as he was pulled into the vent and Freon called out to her fiancé as she was sucked up as well.

After they were gone Batman pulled the switch down and the vents closed. Magma shouted in anger and broke the ice on his feet. Batman and Nightwing ran towards the abort button to stop the machine but Magma stood in the way. "We gotta shut that thing off, thousands of people will die!" Batman told him desperately.

"Dr. Morgan please you can't let that happen, you're hero remember," Nigthwing pleaded. "No, I'm an accident. With heroes they make a choice, I never did", Magma said as his eyes burst into flames.

Using a batarang, Howard broke the ice off of the floor and began to crawl away which Magma didn't fail to see. "No you're staying for this," Magma told him and threw a giant metal column at the doorway.

While Magma was distracted, Nightwing noticed a fire hose and ran to get it. When she sprayed the water Magma cried out as his exterior hardened up. After he was sprayed Batman started to rapidly punch him and then kicked him into machines.

The duo watched as Magma lost his lava and hardened into a rock. With no threats, Batman easily pushed the abort button that shut off the experiment while Nightwing moved the column out of the doorway. "Satisfied?" Batman asked Howard disgustedly. "No, you don't understand. I was their friend," Howard mumbled somberly. "Some friend you are," Nightwing growled before they left, leaving Howard to mourn his friends.