Might be the last chapter for a little bit. I'm writing a few chapters ahead, but I'm not finished yet.

Reiko's POV

I came to somewhere familiar. I didn't know what it was at that moment, but I was sure if I was given some time, that I would figure it out. I groaned as I felt my head pounding with my heart. It was loud enough to block out all other noises. Soon enough it died down.

"Hey Kangor, looks like she's wakin up. What're we supposed to do now? She's gonna fry us if we ain't careful."

"No problem Weasel. She not be movin any time soon. Hard as I hit her." Kangor said with a laugh.

It was my turn to laugh. Virgil had been the first to really comment on how fast I seemed to heal. I would be fine in a little while. I took that time to figure out exactly what had been done to me. The one Weasle had referred to as Kangor had spoken truly. He had hit me pretty hard.

I was tied, with twine. That wouldn't be too hard to mess with. All I had to do was hit it with lightning, not try to manipulate it. It would catch fire quickly. My dress was hitched at an odd angle. I would have growled, but I didn't want to alert them to my wakefulness. I began to move it around so it was back to where it should be. I was sure they hadn't done anything to me since knocking me out, I would have known it immidiately.

I used kujiri kuri to make them think I was still unconscious. I wasn't able to focus all the energy I wanted to, but it worked. I lit the rope on fire, and in a flash I was on my feet, whipping the flaming twine around and hitting Weasel. Kangor leaped up and tried to hit my stomach.

I grabbed at his feet and twisted, landing hard on the ground. I flipped up, effectively keeping my dress from doing anything awkward. We were in a warehouse by the docks. I sighed, and jumped up, using the electricity in the same way that Virgil used to keep his disc in the air. The metal in the floor and my shoes helped me gain altitude.

I kicked the window out, the glass sprinkled onto the ground. I grabbed the sill and flipped out the window onto the fire escape, gouging my arm in the process. The green dress was splashed with crimson. I held the arm as close to me as possible, so I wouldn't leave a blood trail.

I ran. My tennis shoes making little noise on the pavement. I could hear the shouting bang babies. I ran harder, away from my home and the residential district. I ran past officers, who shouted at me for running into one of them. I shouted an apology to them, and tried to warn them about the bang babies.

I tripped and fell to the sidewalk, scraping my knees and hands. I gasped from where I was, then flipped up and continued running. I only hoped that the cops were announcing over their radio that there were bang babies running loose. Maybe, just maybe, Gear and Static would show up and help me, if they would get over whatever it was that was upsetting them.

I couldn't hear them, and wasn't sure if they were still following, but I had my answer a few moments later when I went flying through a hotel restaurant window into a cart of desserts. It felt slimy and disgusting, but was a much softer landing than I could have hoped for. There was glass everywhere, and I was pretty sure that my side was impaled on something. The main clue I had was the fact that I couldn't move, and I saw a jagged piece of glass ominously above me.

It was a numbing pain. I laid there and began to laugh softly. I had the worst luck. The second time being injured. This was worse, I could tell. I felt the blood pumping towards the wound, but very little was coming back. There was another crash somewhere I was sure that was close by.

"You really oughtta do something about your hair. It's a mess girl. I mean, it's how we found Static knew you. You hair was all over him. Caught a big whiff of your shampoo, and knew that he'd been near you. We used it to find you." Weasel said. Then he swore loudly, running to my side.

I groaned. The pain was clouding my thoughts, and the blood loss wasn't doing me any good either. Weasel could smell the blood, and made a noise of disgust as Kangor came in and tried to pick me up. Weasel had been pressing something against my side. He lashed out, trying to get the bigger man's attention.

"Don't! She's gonna bleed to death if we're not careful." Weasel said. "That thing is stopping a majority of the bleed out, move her, and you've got little time until she's a goner. We're gonna get our asses kicked by him, I just know it! She needs a medic!"

With another crash, there was a scream from somewhere above me. Weasel landed against a wall. Kangor tromped off and I felt someone take my hand and squeeze it. There was pressure on my side again. The blood stopped flowing out of my body at the rate it had been, blocked by whatever it was exerting pressure there. With the accelerated healing I possessed, maybe I wouldn't bleed to death.

"Reiko, come on. Don't die on me." Richie said, from far away.

I opened my eyes. His face was surrounded by a halo. I reached up to touch it, but couldn't. He was Gear now, wearing a mask. I could see his eyes, full of pain. Not physical though. Tears glistened there, I never thought I'd see someone like him cry. I would try not dying, but I couldn't guarantee him that, and that was what pained me the most. I wanted to give Richie what he asked for, but it was so much easier to give in and go to sleep. Maybe I'd meet my mother finally, and stop feeling the pain of torn roots that take forever to grow in new soil. It would be the last time I was uprooted.

"I'm so sorry Reiko. I'm so sorry." He whispered.

"No, don't be." I said.

"I was so upset with Virgil, and so worried that your power might kill you. I'm sorry." He said.

"No. I'll be alright. Take me out of here, please." I asked weakly.

He picked me up, I laid my head on his shoulder so I could see where we were going. Static was flying above, putting the finishing touches on some trash bins holding Kangor and the Weasel. I watched it all, feeling some strength return to me. I whispered to Richie, and he put me down, keeping his arm around my waist, to hold the cloth against my side. I ignored the blood starting to drip from the cloth, and he didn't notice it at all. We watched Virgil fly around once, and then he landed.

"We need to get you out of here." He said softly.

"No more hospital, please." I said.

"You're going to bleed to death Reiko." Richie said.

"No, I will be fine. I can heal." I said.

"I'm calling the Titans. They can take care of you until you're healed." Virgil said.

"What about my father and school?" I asked.

"We'll take care of that Reiko. Don't worry about it. You took care of us, we'll take care of you now." Virgil said. "I'm sorry about before. You helped us, and I could only think that I wanted my job back."

"It's alright." I said.

Richie's POV

Reiko collapsed. I already had a hold of her, so caught her before she hit the ground. I picked her up again, making sure her dress wouldn't fly up or anything. There was food all over it, and in her hair. I combed my fingers through her hair, as Virgil watched. I was pretending that her blood wasn't dripping from the soaked cloth I was holding against her side. It seemed futile anymore to try to stop the blood. In my heart somewhere, it told me she would die.

"Come on Gear. We need to get her out of here. Whether or not she heals quickly, that's a lot of blood lost, and one wrong move could kill her." Virgil said.

"I know man. Lets go. The Tower shouldn't be too far." I said.

"The Titans are prepared for us." Virgil said.

I sat in the Titan Tower for hours. Raven and Cyborg were attending to Reiko. I didn't know what was going on. Virgil and Robin were talking in another room, and I was nervous as could be. Every time that Raven or Cyborg came out of the room they were working in, I'd almost have a heart attack. They had better luck with Reiko's electricity than I did, but not as much as Virgil did. But they didn't want him in there when they were in need of concentration.

"She can have visitors now, but only one at a time." Cyborg said, coming out again.

"She lost a lot of blood. Luckily her body has an accelerated healing factor, otherwise she would have died. But she is still in danger." Raven said.

"I bet she could still light up the tower though." Beast Boy said.

"She lit me up pretty good, even with Raven channeling her mind to help control the electricity. Something is not right with that girl. It was like the moment someone tried to use their mind to help her, she lashed out." Cyborg said.

"It was strange. She has control, not a lot, but enough to stop her power from 'burning out' as you put it, but there is something that diverts her control. I don't know what it is. It could be something implanted in her head, or something as simple as something she wears. Someone wants to keep her from being able to control her abilities." Raven said.

I nodded, and looked at Virgil. He motioned for me to go. I smiled in relief. I took off my helmet as I walked into the medical room. Raven and Cyborg were still talking with Robin and Virgil, Beast Boy followed me in. I saw Reiko laying on a high tech version of a hospital bed. She was wearing something of Starfire's, showing the wound in her side. Raven and Cyborg had done a great job of fixing her up. When the stitches were taken out later on, the scar would hardly be noticeable. It was in the shape of a small crescent moon.

"Wow, she's pretty when she's cleaned up." Beast Boy said. I glared at him. "Hey, I didn't mean anything by it man. I just never saw someone as hurt as she was, when she was just an innocent bystander. We get hurt all the time, but she was just minding her own business."

"That's what Virgil and I are for. We help keep people like her safe. But we had to be stupid and pissed off at each other, and she paid the price." I said.

"Don't beat yourself up over it. You can't be everywhere at once. Just be there for her. I think she'd appreciate it." Beast Boy said.

"She'll hate me for this." I said.

"No. You were there for her when she needed you the most, and if she has a sliver of the same feelings you've got for her, then she'll want you there when she wakes up. I'm gonna go make some tofu dogs. You want anything?" He asked.

"No. I'm fine." I said. He nodded and left.

I took Reiko's hand in mine, kissing it lightly. She seemed so frail now. I sat down next to her, stroking her hair, admiring the way it shined and outlined her face. I wanted her eyes to open so I could see the strange and beautiful colors of her eyes, and watch her smile at me, and laugh. I pleaded in my head that she would open her eyes, and say something to me, anything, even if it were more of her harsh words from the first time we met her.

"It was not your fault, Richie-san. You came to me when I was injured, instead of turning away to fight." She whispered softly.

"But if I hadn't been so pissed off at Virgil that I had ignored you, you would have been safe." I said.

"No, they came after me to get to Gear and Static. They would have done worse to people less able to defend themselves." She said.

"I'm glad you can fight like you do." I said softly.

"Me too. They wanted me. Someone told them to come for me. Somehow they smelled me on Static's costume." She said, becoming anxious.

"Sounds like Weasel. He can smell almost anything." I said.

"They won't stop coming. I'm better off gone, they will keep hurting people, hurting you to get to me." She said, getting hysterical.

"Reiko, please. Your going to hurt yourself if you don't calm down." I said. She threw her arms around me and sobbed.

I didn't let go of her until she had fallen asleep. I wiped her tears from her face, watching her for a moment. It looked like she hadn't just been sobbing her pain away. It was strange how she seemed to be able to walk through a mudslide and come out looking perfect. I sat in there for a long time, I don't know how long. I just sat there, holding her hand, and whispering to her that none of this was her fault. Starfire came in and told me to get some sleep, she sat down next to Reiko and seemed to fall into a trance as she watched her. Robin guided me out, and I don't even remember being led to a room, I just passed out. I awoke in an uncomfortable position, still having most of my costume on.

I jumped out of bed, remembering all of the day before. I had had nightmares about it. I remembered finding the mangled bleachers of our football field, and how we were confused at what could have caused the damage. That's when I had found Reiko's purse, and began to piece together what had probably happened. We heard over the scanner that there were bang babies running loose downtown, chasing someone. I felt the guilt flood my brain, and make everything seem to go so slow. In my mind I knew that it wasn't actually slow, that time was running at it's normal speed, but my heart felt like it took forever to find Reiko, and even longer to reach her.

I put my face in my hands, still smelling the blood. I then realized that I hadn't washed my costume off since bringing Reiko to the tower. Her blood had poured from the wound in her side, dripped through the towel we had used to stem the flow, soaked into my gloves, and stained my hands. I used the bathroom in the room to wash my gloves as best I could. I couldn't get the blood off my hands. I heard the door open, but I didn't turn around, I kept scrubbing at my hands, trying to wash her blood off.

"Richie, you better get out there, otherwise you'll be stuck with Beast Boy's cooking." Virgil said.

"I can't, I've got to wash this blood off my hands." I said.

"What blood? Oh. Oh Richie. It's not your fault. None of this was your fault. Reiko is alive, and healing quickly. If you hadn't figured things out, she would be in serious trouble. You saved her life man." Virgil said.

"You can't see the blood. Its there man, it is. It dried on, I didn't wash it off last night. It's there, it is. Can't you see it?" I said, feeling tears streaming down my face. I had practically killed Reiko with my own hands.

"Snap out of it Richie! None of this is your fault!" Virgil shouted, shaking me.

I collapsed to the floor, not caring that I was sobbing like a baby. I tried to wrestle away from Virgil when he sat next to me, hugging me. I felt like such an idiot. Crying, my best friend treating me like an infant. But he wouldn't let go. I sobbed on his shoulder, about everything I had felt, and thought about Reiko, everything I wanted to do and say to her, and how I felt that it was my fault, that she was going to die because of me. Virgil squeezed me tighter as he spoke to me.

"It's not your fault Richie. They would have found another way to get to her, and we wouldn't have known where to start. You helped find her, you saved her life." He said, over and over again. Slowly I stopped crying.

Awwww, poor Richie kun was crying... ok... so maybe that wasn't too in character, but I do have artistic liscense.

And I checked... i still don't own em... although... once I take over the world... MUAHAHAHA!

REVIEW PLEASE! It's like food... and I don't have much of that around here...