A/N: Hey guys! So, as promised, I got this chapter out a lot faster than the last one :D But it is 2 AM right now, so I am so sorry if there are a lot of grammatical errors :P As always, thank you guys for your continued support, and I hope you can bear with me and my future slow updating, as I'm about to start my first year of college and I have no idea how much free time I'll have. But I'll do my best! Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter :)

11:43 PM

"Aqualad! Cut it out!" Rocket dove to the side, just narrowly escaping the Atlantian's glowing sword as he swung down at her head. "Ok, I didn't mean that literally!"

"You are a nuisance to my mistress, and so must be disposed of!" the entranced Kaldur roared as he lunged at his teammate once more.

"Rocket flipped straight over his head as he charged. Smoothly landing behind him, she planted a hard kick into his back and sent him tumbling across the cement. "I always did say I'd kick your ass in a real fight!" she jibed, but then admitted to herself, But I never thought I'd actually be able to. Why is he so weak? And how is he even able to use his powers? While Kaldur was still busy picking himself up off the ground, Rocket turned her attention to the wicked villainess who was simply lounging on a leafy makeshift throne. "What did you do to him, Poison Ivy?"

"You must be new here," the villainess replied in a bored drawl, studying her nails unenthusiastically, "Controlling men is kind of my thing, dear. Ask anyone."

Patience quickly slipping, Rocket lunged at the frustrating woman, but was cut short by nearly two-hundred pounds of Atlantian mass slamming into her side. The air left her lungs all at once, and being sent flying across the ally into the opposing brick wall didn't help much, either. Before she could regain her bearings once more or even so much as gasp for air, she was thrown back to the ground under Kaldur's weight, her wrists pinned down by webbed hands.

"I gotta admit, big guy," she gasped in air as she tried to wiggle herself free of his grasp, "I'd be kinda turned on by this if you weren't trying to slash my throat open." She still had no idea how he was using his powers, but she knew better than to ask Ivy. There was a very strong chance that the wretched witch of a woman had nothing to do with it, and asking her about it would do nothing more than reveal her current weakened state.

"Your feelings for me mean nothing, girl! You mean nothing! Only my mistress matters!"

Ouch. That stung a bit. Rocket couldn't help but feel the bite of that remark. Mind-control or not, she planned on holding that one against him later. Well… later… and now. Using the unusually angry Atlantian's momentary slip of focus to her own advantage, she slipped her legs free from his weight, and slammed the soles of her shoes hard into his stomach. This time, it was his turn to have the wind knocked out of him. His body went slack as he doubled over, releasing his grip on her wrists to clutch his aching abdomen.

"Sorry Kal, I like it rough, but you gonna have to buy me dinner first!" She allowed herself a moment of satisfaction as she watched her leader struggle to come up with some sort of response. I don't care what anyone else says, she thought to herself with a grin, I've got this heroic banter stuff down.

"My mistress, please wait just a moment longer while I finish off this delusional imbecile," Kaldur said to the crime queen without taking his glare off of Rocket. Quickly scooping up his discarded water bearer, the glowing sword that had retracted during their short grappling match reformed in his hand.

"Of course, my sweet," Ivy drawled out in her obviously practiced seductive tone, "Take all the time you n—"

Her response suddenly stopped short as something grabbed her attention. Noticing her intent glance at the rooftops, Rocket looked up to scan the area for whatever had distracted the villainess. That's when she saw a small silhouette balancing on the ledge as it raced across the buildings, but her slim hope of it being backup crumbled as she heard a faint mewl resonate off the walls. The cat came to a stop, sitting down on the edge of the skyscraper and letting out another long meow. It was just a stupid cat, but Rocket couldn't shake the feeling that it was staring right at them.

"Actually," Poison Ivy continued so suddenly that it made Rocket jump, "It looks like I'll have to finish playing with you two later."

"Wha—but why, mistress?" the lovesick Kaldur asked, his voice desperate, "I thought—"

Ivy stood from her green throne as it shrunk back into the earth, sauntering over to his side and delicately taking his free hand in her own. She kissed it lightly and pressed her cheek against his palm, snickering slightly as she watched Rocket bristle with rage. Kaldur's eyes hazed over and his glowing weapon evaporated once more.

"Hush, little fish. I am sure we will meet again soon," the green woman cooed. Stepping back slowly, she seemed to melt into the shadows until she was gone. She vanished just as suddenly as she had appeared, leaving the two young heroes alone once more.

Rocket looked back up at the rooftop and noticed that the cat had vanished as well. But before she could really contemplate the connection between the animal and Poison Ivy, Kaldur's legs suddenly gave out from under him and he collapsed to his knees.

"Kaldur!" Rocket yelled, running over and kneeling in front of him, "Kal, are you alright?" For one terrible moment, the thought that Ivy may have poisoned him with her toxins seemed all too likely, and Rocket could feel the panic beginning to rise in the back of her throat. "Kaldur?" she almost whispered, finding herself in one of those rare moments when she had trouble speaking.

But when he lifted his head and her worried gaze was met by the kind eyes she was accustomed to, she felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"R-Raquel?" he groaned, clutching his head as he sat down, "What… what happened?"

All the worry and concern left Raquel in a heartbeat and was quickly replaced by a wave of annoyance and frustration. "'What happened?'" she repeated through grinding teeth, voice growing louder with every syllable, "'WHAT HAPPENED?' Ooohh, I don't knooww. It's not like you just tried to CUT OFF MY HEAD OR ANYTHING!"

Far too accustomed to her temper and habit of yelling, Kaldur didn't so much as flinch as Rocket screamed accusations at him. The actual accusations, on the other hand, did concern him. "I… what? I suppose… I suppose I did…" He rubbed his temples vigorously, trying to clear his mind. "I… I am having trouble recalling it all, as if the memory is hidden by a thick fog. But…" His brows furrowed in concentration as he forced himself to work through the muddled memories. "I do remember pieces here and there. I am sorry, Raquel. I was not in control of my own actions."

"Better not have been in control of your own words, either," she grumbled to herself as she stood up and pulled Kaldur to his feet.

He blinked at her in confusion. "What?"

"Nevermind, it doesn't matter" she brushed the topic off, but the chill in her tone contradicted her words. She turned to walk back down the way they'd come before adding loud and clear for him to hear, "Because apparently, I don't matter."

Kaldur just stared after her as she walked away, but then gave a tired sigh. "I have a feeling that this is not the end of this conversation," he said to himself before following his teammate.

"Oh, you have no idea," she replied with a small smirk, "But we're on a time limit, so I'll let you off the hook. For now."

"It would be nice to know why exactly I am on the hook to begin with, but you are right," he replied once he had caught up, "But… I do have one question…"

Raquel turned and gave him a look. "Boy, do you really wanna question me right now? I'm already gonna kick your ass again later, don't make me do it again right now."

"No, no, that is not what I meant. It's just… why did I pull out my water bearer?"

Raquel froze in her tracks and rounded on the Atlantian, a new wave of anger surging through her. "Well a better question would be, why do you even have your water bearers in the first place!" she interrogated, jabbing a finger into his chest accusingly, "Robin practically strip-searched Artie! How did you get away with bringing a weapon?"

Raquel was so up in his face that Kaldur was forced to lean back in order to regain some of his personal space. Patient as ever, or at least as patient as he could be with Rocket, he placed a hand on hers and lowered it away so that she couldn't jab him anymore. "I only brought them because Robin told me to," he replied calmly.

"HE WHAT!"

The sudden increase in pitch made Aqualad flinch, but he fought off the urge to ask her not to yell. After all, he had just tried to murder her a moment ago; in his mind, she had every right to be so high-strung right now. "He asked me to bring my weapons, just in case we could not handle the task," he explained, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and gently pushing her back an inch, "My powers are what make my water bearers into weapons, so I am still following the 'no weapon' rule so long as my inhibitor band is still in effect. However, if an emergency was to arise and were forced to give up, Robin wanted to make sure that I could effectively lead the team to safety. And for that, I require my weapons."

Raquel opened her mouth to argue, but after a brief hesitation, seemed to decide against it and instead gave an aggravated sigh. "I guess that makes sense… but what doesn't make sense is how you were able to use your powers just now."

"Yes, that was my next question," Kaldur agreed, starting to walk once more, "My memory is still very fuzzy, so I was not sure if I was remembering that part correctly."

"Can you still use them?" she asked as she matched his pace.

Kaldur looked down at the bearer clutched in his hand and attempted to form something. "No. My magic is gone again. I need you to tell me exactly what happened before I used my magic. It could be important information to understanding how it happened."

"Alright, umm… let's see… you suddenly went all goo-goo over that green hag, and then you said you'd kill me and poof!, out came your magic swordy thing and you spent the next quarter of an hour trying to slice my head off."

"Which I already apologized for," Kaldur said with wavering patience, "Please, Raquel, focus. I need specifics."

"Look, I would tell you more if I could, but that's what happened. You fell under her trance, she got really close and touched you, and then suddenly you were all 'MY MISSSTRESSSSSS!'" she told him, dropping her tone as deep as she could when she mocked his voice.

Kaldur frowned. "I do not sound like that."

"Close enough," she snickered.

"Anyway," Kaldur refocused on their discussion rather than digressing, "What happened right before she disappeared?"

"I saw a cat."

Kaldur gave her a tired look. "You saw a cat."

"Yes, I saw a cat, and I swear it was staring at us."

Kaldur pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Alright. Alright, that could possibly be relevant," he said mostly to himself in attempt to remain calm and hopeful, "What else?"

"Ivy touched you again and then disappeared into the shadows. And then you collapsed. That's all."

"Alright, well, it is not enough to assume anything yet. She may have had something to do with my powers coming back, but it could have simply been her toxins interfering with my inhibitor band. Robin did say that he just made these last night, so they could easily have some problems." He thought about it for a moment before continuing. "But that doesn't explain why yours didn't malfunction."

"Even if it had, we wouldn't have noticed a difference."

Kaldur raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because my powers aren't from some freak accident or mysterious genealogy. They come from that belt I always wear. Icon designed it using a piece of his spaceship or something."

"I… did not know that. Obviously, Robin did not know either, otherwise he would have given you a band like Artemis's."

"Yeah, well, I don't tell that many people, even those closest to me," she explained with a smirk, "You should feel honored."

Kaldur chuckled, and the pair walked in silence for a short time until Rocket noticed that he was smiling to himself still.

"What are you thinking about, big guy?" she asked, trying to make a bit of small talk before their silence became awkward.

"I happened to notice that you stopped insisting on the existence of some secret passageway hidden in the dead-end and simply went back the way we came."

"So?"

"So, you finally admitted that you were wrong. That is a very big thing," he said with a humored smile, "At least, for you it is."

"Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?" Raquel scoffed, crossing her arms huffily, "For your information, fish face, I was not wrong. In fact, Poison Ivy's sudden appearance and disappearance into the dark corners of those walls are proof that there really was a way to continue on."

"Oh, really," Kaldur replied dryly, "Then why did you not go that direction?"

"Because, that's the direction that evil plant lady went, and I don't want to run into her again," Raquel huffed with a roll of her eyes as if it were the most obvious reason ever, "I just got through rescuing you from Ivy's grip, and I don't really feel like kicking your ass again just yet."

Kaldur chuckled slightly. "Very well," he told her, but after taking a moment to ponder what she had said, he added, "What do you mean by kicking my ass again?"

"Oh, honestly Kal, keep up! We already went over this: you went nuts, attacked me, I kicked your butt, and Ivy took off running for some unknown reason. Where is the confusing part?"

"Well, you seem to think that you were winning our little fight back there," he started with a small smile, "But from what I can recall, I believe I had the upper hand."

"Only because you had your weapon," she replied indignantly.

"So did you."

"It was a freaking plank of rotting wood! You cut it in half in the first millisecond! You had an unbreakable magic sword, remember?"

"Which I believe I only used for the first half of the fight…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. I'm just a 'delusional imbecile'. Of course the fish head with partial-amnesia has a more reliable memory than me. What was I thinking?"

"…perhaps I should just stop talking now."

"Oh, ya think?"

There was another moment of silence between the two before Kaldur broke it once more. "Did I… really call you a delusional imbecile?"

"Yeah, it seems your already-fancy vocabulary really kicks up a notch when you're crazy in love," Raquel joked, though there was still annoyance in her tone.

"I did not mean it," Kaldur told her seriously, "Truly, I did not."

"Whatever," she replied simply, picking up her pace so that she was leading the way once more, "I'm still going to hold this against you for a very long time."

"I'm sure you will," Kaldur sighed again, a small smile playing on his lips. He had met many people in his lifetime, but no one knew how to push his buttons quite as well as Raquel. "I hope the others are not having as much trouble as we are."

"We're superheroes, Kal. We're all magnets for trouble."

"For once, Raquel, we are in complete agreement."

A/N: That's all for now, folks! :D Hope you like it, and don't forget to fave, follow, and leave a review! I always love hearing from you guys :)

Next Chapter: Superboy and his mysterious enemy! And I wanna remind you that if you guess correctly on who the laser girl is BEFORE the reveal of her identity, I will write you a fanfic of your choice (ie. Your fave pairing, your fave character, a specific plot or idea, etc. etc.). Just know that I wont tell you if you were right until after I reveal it in the fic cuz I don't want to spoil the surprise ;)