"As for that, my best guess is that the endalite takes energy from emotions, too" Richie explains back in the white recovery room, "Even though Static destroyed the core, the residue of the barrier remained from Static's anger, like it took from my surprise and fear when I first tried to get through it. "

"Emotions? I suppose it's possible. Definitely probable. That means the endalite would have affected me too. I was close to you and Static, and you were already pretty exposed to it. When I lost Jonah, and you two were with me… the endalite, it might have…" Gear could see the wheels turning in her head. He had the same question: Was it him and Static or the endalite that allowed her to get over Jonah's death so quickly? Did the endalite change her? How would she and the rest of them be affected now that the core is destroyed?

Deep inside, the question that Kaya wanted answered most of all bubbled furiously: 'That euphoria I felt, that weight lifted after Jonah let go of my had when he died, when I had been with Static and Gear, it-was my disease that was healed?' Her heart felt like ice, and her stomach, like a hot spring in July. The closest person she had to a father…Was that what he meant by "the courage?" It was too great a price, but in the end, after all those years and tests and all that pain, Jonah…healed her. Gear broke the horrible silence, to her relief.

"For the complexity it shows this thing may have been a machine that emulates organic material at one time, like Dark Heart, but I'm glad it was no match for it's polar opposites" he smiles into her eyes, and takes her hand, "not by a longshot."

Kaya looks up, taking his hand and allowing a small red flush to creep over her face with his attention. She finishes the lilies with a tall, shimmering vase and immediately looks down at her shoes in an effort to hide her thankful smile, when a low rumble sounds through the tower and her head jerks up, sporting wide eyes. Her brows pull into a glare. Gear is just as uneasy. No doubt Kaya's "former colleague" had broken out of the holding cell for a stroll around the tower.

"Stay here." she tells Gear sternly, and then jumps over the table and races out into the hall, leaving the dark lilies bobbing on the table in the wake of her speed.

…

Virgil Hawkins sits up in a cotton-sheeted white hospital bed in a room not far from Richie's, and abruptly and looks around, an imaginary sledgehammer assaulting his skull, but still alive. He notices a single blue flower in a purple vase next to his bed. A half-stem blue moon colored daisy is blossoming to his right on the sidetable. 'Thanks, Kaya.' He rises to his feet, and dresses as fast as he can, mask and all. 'I should go see how Rich is doing…' he thinks intently as he steps into the hallway, only to be nearly flattened by Hawk, Dove, Stargirl, and Green Arrow, who are sprinting in the direction of the transporter room.

"Hey-Omph! Where's the fire guys?" Static says, flattening against the wall for another wave of heroes and heroines to come storming through, not answering him also. The red flash and sounding alarm over his head also denoted a state of emergency. 'This can't be good-I'll see him later…Kaya can handle that, she's practically a miracle worker" Static runs to the third hallway, taking a different path to avoid being almost trampled again. Another disheveled voice rises from the hum of urgency in the hall, to which Virgil flips his head around and almost off.

"Hey! Easy man, that rib just healed this morning! Naw, it's cool, get going." To his astonishment he finds Gear jogging toward him. But Virgil was too relieved to see Richie alive and walking to be shocked.

"Richie!"

"Hey man, did you hear that alarm? I think Alan's back-omph!"

Richie didn't have a choice as Virgil pulled him into half a hug. But with all the care of a full hug, and all the years that they had been friends.

"First of all, are you okay? I know Kaya didn't tell you that you could be running around here like nothing stabbed you in the gut."

"I'm fine, really. And she did tell me to stay put, but she underestimated how good of a job she did."

"Is that you or your hormones talkin, Casanova?"

Gear blushed: "'Foreswearing my sight that I never saw true hotness' and everything, but in case you guys forgot, I have the only laser on this lousy tower that can bring Alan down, remember?" said Gear, showing off the new, shiny addition to his right arm.

"Oh right."

"I figured I could give it to Flash because he's fast enough to get a good shot, but you could try it out, too I guess, if worse comes to worse…"

Virgil punched his arm playfully, and the two kept running, searching the decks for other league members and news on Alan's whereabouts, and just to break the silence Static brings it up

"So…you and Ka-ya huuuh?" Static says with teasing inflection, nudging Richie on the shoulder.

"Yeah" said Gear, spacing out once more. Static notices this and tries to keep their talk going so that he would focus-Richie could really mess up or even hurt himself in this case when there wasn't something to focus on-Gear without something to think about was like Sherlock Holmes without a mystery.

"You gonna ask her out?"

"Aw come on V, she's probably got like half the guys on this ship lined u-"

"She's already into you, man"

"I'm waiting for the right moment"

"If you don't, I will" said Virgil with a firm tone

"V, Don't do me any favors…"

"All right, all right…"

"I mean it"

"Sure."

I mean it, Virgil…

(A/N: skip to the next parenthesis if you don't want to read all the heartbreaking drama: main points are that Richie has decided that he loves Kaya romantically and not Virgil for many reasons, but does not love Virgil any less as a partner and friend, and this reflection may or may not be a result of the endalite messing with emotion, ect., ect., I know I have impatient readers who want action and stuff )

Richie thought about that. He also thought about how many times in the past a girl had been interested in him, and he could count that on both hands, give or take. The point was; it wasn't that often. He thought about what Kaya had said to him; it was what she remembered about Jonah's lesson back when they were talking in the recovery ward. 'Love, in this sense,' Jonah had said, 'means learning to let go of the fear of your own safety or peace of mind for the sake of another person's welfare.' Virgil…how many times had he been so close?…and now, with Daisy. Ughh. It hurt just to think about it. He was Virgil's best friend and he had no idea what he really felt about Daisy. If he asked he was sure Virgil would suddenly 'have something important to do'. He and Virgil were practically brothers, but some time ago he had figured that personal stuff like that should be kept to yourself. Personally he hated it when Virgil got like that; he would randomly get defensive about Daisy even when they were joking. Daisy Daisy Daisy. He thought so many times about telling Virgil before then, and always pulled back for their friendship- he honestly couldn't imagine loosing Virgil permanently for any reason. Never. The thought was like someone put his stomach in a freezer and filled his heart with needles-jagged, burning needles. Then Daisy and Virgil started going out. Tell him after they broke up? If that even happened? That kind of thinking was slimy. He could never trust himself to not wish it would happen until it did. But still, would he hurt Virgil like that? He could just say that he loved Virgil and would do anything for him-so would a drunken prom date. Or he could just allow Virgil to do anything to make himself happy-so would a suicidal adrenaline junkie with an extra jumping cord. But that isn't love, it's self-serving, what "made somebody happy", isn't always the best thing for them.

Happiness and love aren't the same thing, he knew that. And he couldn't think of any reason why his feeling of wanting Virgil was more than, at bottom, just wanting to be happy. His entire life, that simple feeling was so hard to come by, what with his father's…personality, and his interests being different than most people. He had never really felt powerful, in control, or happy in his life, and then he met Virgil for the first time, and everything became bearable, fun, alive again. Every time he wanted to prolong that happiness. Never wanting to be away from it. The pain went away. Maybe that was why-he felt like he deserved it, it was hard to say or even think about it that way, but he knew it was true. He didn't think it hurt anybody, it was a good thing, wasn't it? Being together might make both of them happy, if only for a short time. But that isn't love, it's not friendship, it's just 'being happy'. If he just cared about happiness, then what? He would be no different than the others. All he would defend is their "happiness" if their relationship ever got in trouble. And how would he defend it then, and where would that end? He cared about Virgil more than that. So what about the pain? He would have braved anything to be with Virgil earlier, couldn't he be that brave now, because it would be better for Virgil, Daisy, him and their friendship to accept V&D as a couple? But the thought of being a third wheel to their life, thrown away, the poor sap you hang out with out of pity, tore him apart again. He would do this because it was the right thing to do. He had resolved before they took this mission that he would take the help to shut this demon away permanently, and make sure it was done if it was the last thing he did, even without help. Without help…those words had hurt the most of all…he had never had the courage to ask anyone for help about this, who could?…

And then…and then he met Kaya. He had never met someone like her before. Figures, no girl on Earth had made him feel so strongly to surpass Virgil. Thinking about that, about her, her face, her eyes, made him feel warm, comfortable, like nothing was so important or nothing mattered so little as what they were.

In love.

It was incredible. And he could never be more sure than he was that she felt the same way. He didn't feel that pang of guilt he felt when he went out with other girls to keep the stigma going that he was, in fact, 'male' because he went out with girls, all the while wishing that he could just come out and tell everyone. Thinking each time he tried, if he could just laugh, just smile while thinking about him and Virgil together everything would be okay. It never was. The pain multiplied with interest with every casual glance, every brush against his arm, every quick look. When he met her, it was as though he found his helper, his angel. While he was with Kaya… it was beyond thinking 'oh look, they were right, liking girls is better, big deal.' He wasn't even thinking. Not about anything. Certainly not about that. And his brain has been known to set itself on fire with thoughts on simple metaphysics and dimensional theory. He wouldn't think about a damn thing, except standing beside her, doing-whatever, but as long as she was with him. Just to be with her; all it took was her touch and he felt alive, like floating. Every facet of his body breathed easier.

He wasn't a square peg in a square hole. That was trivial, simple minded trash. He was a man in love. And it felt like being alive. He had not been sure before, but he was now. That knowledge, that gut feeling, that fact, whatever it was, took away any pain or reserve he had, thinking that he loved Virgil less as his best friend and partner.

(STATIC SHOCK- Hi, continue here awesome readers of awesomeness and have a nice day )

"Earth. to. Richard. Foley." Static says emphatically, waking Richie from his thoughts with a hand waving back and forth in front of his face.

"Sorry"

"Dang you're spacey today Rich, I thought I might have to wake you up with a little juice" Static says with a devious smile as his fingers light up with purple flashes; they turn a corner and Static is hot on Gear's trail, who sped up a little at Virgil's comment.

"Oh no you don't, V-Did I tell you yet how that hurt like hell?" banters Richie, ducking for the second time.

"Yea, well, as long as you're awake, you think you can help me take ghostie down?" says Static, his fist outstretched. Richie returned the handshake, feeling better than he had felt in a long time.

"It would be my pleasure, V-man!"

Both Static and Gear come to a stop at the entrance of the engineering deck.