AN: I've begun to realize than my excuses at this point literally mean zilch to you guys. But anyway, I was at school today and realized what day it was, and got motivated to write a new chapter. So…yeah.

Disclaimer: the teen titans belong to DC, not me

STORYTIME!

Annabel immediately radioed the next squad, ignoring the slightly worried looks of the titans, and the freaked out expressions of Tyler and Bennett, who had come back in when they heard the shouting.

"Team B, this is Archer, can you hear me?" Silence. Her radio suddenly crackled to life.

"Yeah, I'm here. Did you hear that explosion? It sounded really close."

"Yes, take team C and check it out. It was by team A and they're not responding."

Michael didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Sure. We'll be right there…you gonna be okay?"

She sighed impatiently. "Yes, I'll be fine, just hurry up!"

"On our way."

She clipped the radio to her side and turned to the assembled heroes. "It seems something happened to team A, I've sent two of the other teams to check on hi-them." Tyler and Bennett looked worried.

"Do you think they might-" Tyler began, when Jim suddenly ran in, holding a file. He noticed the sudden silence and looked around warily. He sighed and gloomily handed Annabel the file. "We got another one, Anna."

She groaned, rubbing the side of her head. "No, not another one. Three in one month?" Jim nodded, looking downcast. She shook her head and signaled Tyler and Bennett, who ran to the other side of the hut and grabbed a stretcher. She and Jim left, followed by the medics. The titans looked at Robin, who motioned for them to follow as well.

"Who was is it?" Annabel asked her lieutenant. Jim opened the file to the last page. Cyborg, the tallest, could see that it was a list of names and dates. Some only had one date, some had two. The last name on the list had two dates.

"Rachel Bera." Jim said.

"The new girl?" she asked. Jim nodded. She shook her head again and closed the file.

"Who found her?" she asked him. Jim looked away.

"Mikey." He said.

"The kid? Dammit."

The titans looked at the two in confusion, and turned helplessly to the other pair.

"Hey, what happened?" Robin asked. The two in front of them jumped. Jim and Annabel only looked slightly startled. They shot each other a look and Annabel stepped forward.

"You should go back to the med tent. We'll be right there."

"Has something happened?" Starfire asked worriedly.

Raven, looking past the group, noticed a large crowd outside one of the huts. She saw Kyle by the entrance of the hut, kneeling by a small child and attempting to make the boy calm down. Rita was standing in the doorway, blocking what was inside from the crowd.

"We should probably go back." She stated. The small group looked at her in confusion, before following her eyes back to the crowd.

Annabel's shoulders slumped when she noticed the crowd. Rita saw her and frantically gestured for her to hurry up. The crowd saw and turned its attention on her. Annabel and Jim were instantly swarmed by their teammates, who were asking a million questions and demanding answers.

The four JT members walked purposefully towards the small room, pushing teammates aside and ignoring the questions. The titans stayed on the bridge, watching the insanity.

The four went inside the hut. About six minutes later Annabel exited the room and walked over to Kyle. Picking up the little boy, she walked back over to the titans as Jim came out of the hut. He headed over to the crowd to answer their questions as Tyler and Bennett walked in their direction, carrying the stretcher between them. There was a large object on the stretcher that was covered by a white sheet.

Annabel stood in front of the titans and gestured for them to walk towards the med tent. They walked back silently, save for the sniffling child on Annabel's hip. When they reached the med tent, Tyler and Bennett walked inside with the stretcher while she led the rest off to the side. They followed her to the main room, where she set the boy down in one of the chairs. She sat down next to him and looked up at the titans.

"I suppose you want answers." She said, taking up her role as the leader again.

Before she could go on, she felt something pull on her hair. She looked down at the six, nearly seven year old.

"What's wrong, Mikey?"

The boy cupped his hands around his mouth and whispered something to her that most of the titans couldn't hear.

"What happened to her?"

Annabel glanced up at the other teens.

"Excuse me." She said. She picked up Mikey and walked outside the entrance of the hut. She knelt down at eye level in front of him.

"Hey, Mikey, do you remember what happened to Rachel's brother?"

The little boy nodded.

"Well, she went on a trip to go see him because she missed him. She got lonely without him."

He looked at her in confusion. "But…sometimes I get lonely, but that doesn't happen to me."

She sighed and held the kid's hand. "Look, kiddo…everybody gets lonely. We feel lonely sometimes because we miss people; like you miss your uncle and I miss my family. But," she said quickly, noticing the kid tearing up at the mention of his uncle, "you gotta remember that you're not the only one that feels lonely. What do you do when you feel lonely?"

"I…I talk to Jimmy."

"Because Jimmy knows how it feels to be lonely, right? Rachel just forgot about that and wanted to talk to her brother, okay?"

Mikey nodded. She smiled warmly at him. "Good. Now, go play with your friends, okay Mikey?"

He nodded again and ran off.

Annabel stood up and headed back into the hut, preparing herself for the onslaught of questions she was sure to get. As she stepped into the doorway, her radio started beeping. She quickly grabbed it and pulled up the antenna.

"Team B, it's Archer, what's your status?"

Michael's voice was shaky. "Not good. Not good."

"What's wrong?" She asked urgently.

"Team A. They're gone. There's some blood on the ground, this chunk of pavement got blasted to bits- the Kingdom got 'em."

She turned away from the titans, stepping back outside for a moment. "Are you sure? Absolutely positive?"

"Yeah. Cassandra found a note from the King. He's asking for a trade, you for them."

"I'll do it." She said determinedly.

Rick suddenly came on the line. "Whoa, no, no, no. We'll decide what to do at the meeting, don't you DARE do anything until we get back." The call ended.

She groaned, bashing her head against the side of the wooden hut.

'Can this possibly get ANY worse?' she thought dejectedly.

AN: Clearly, I've had a bad day.

I'm planning on getting the next chapter up tomorrow or Thursday. After that…honestly I dunno. I've been getting more and more schoolwork lately, but I'll try my best to get new chapters up soon.