Slade sat in front of his computer, his chin resting on his entwined fingers as his elbows were propped on top of the desk in front of him. Pressing the enter button on his keyboard, the screen's background maneuvered from the Titan's East control room to the kitchen as he monitored Kat's actions. He couldn't hear anything though as he watched her ascend the stairs to the kitchen area. He wasn't expecting her to return to the Titans or for the Titans to take her back in, but seeing her fight now, he understood why they kept her. It's only been weeks, and she was already fighting like a pro.

Hitting the up arrow key a few times, he zoomed in on her face as the water bender of the team kissed her, "Tell me, Wintergreen," His butler stopped dusting one of the vases in the master study before turning to look at his master, "Why did I decide not to try and recruit her as my apprentice?"

"Well, sir," the old man began, "You said that it was because you didn't want to try and do it a third time, considering the first two tries to make a Titan an apprentice failed. Why risk having another failure were your exact words…sir." The man nodded, remembering their conversation from months ago. "But I was a little surprised sir…"

"About what?" he looked up at his butler.

"From the way you have been observing her sir, it would seem like you are trying to recruit her. It's what we all thought…we meaning the others working here." Slade, however, had stopped listening. His attention was drawn to the computer screen once again as he observed a fight unfold between the archer and the Atlantean of the Titan's team. A smile grew underneath his mask, watching as the red head struck the brown headed girl. "Sir?"

"I'm sorry, Wintergreen…I got a little distracted. It seems like three of our Titans aren't getting along that well anymore…" He clicked the enter button again just in time to see the girl run into her bedroom before a pair of small speedsters stopped outside the door.

"What do you plan to do sir?"

"Nothing…but this little fight might just play a part in my original plan. Wintergreen, are the devices in place?"

"Yes sir. One in Steel City, the other in Jump City. Just as you requested."

"Good…" The twins sped away from the door. He hit the enter button on his keyboard once more, Kat's room filling the screen before he zoomed in on the girl who had moved from the floor to her bed, hugging the pillows tight to her body. "…Wintergreen…leave. I believe it's time to make a call to our little friend…"

"¡Kat! ¡Por favor, nos dejan entrar(Kat! Please let us in!)!" Mas and Menos exclaimed, pounding on the door of her room. As soon as she heard the twins' voices, she immediately locked her door. It may have been just the twins, but she didn't feel like trying to talk to anybody. She just wanted to be alone, so she could think. How could Speedy hit her? Was he really that mad at her that he would strike her? He couldn't have been…well, she didn't think he could have been. It had been weeks, so one would think that Speedy would get over it, but no. He was still as angry as ever. Did she really hurt him that much?

Finally, the twins' voices disappeared as they zoomed off. Kat didn't open her door to make sure they were gone though. She knew they weren't there. It wasn't like they were going to trick her or do anything. They were sweet and all, but when someone wanted their privacy, they usually gave it to them, no matter the condition the person was in. She stood up and trudged to her bed before collapsing onto the comforter, grabbing one of the pillows before muffling her sobs with the fabric as she pressed her face into it. She clung to the pillow, and the comforters, flinching when the material of the pillow would rub her cheek.

Ring, ring, ring! She lifted her head off the tear covered pillow, looking at her computer as it signaled an incoming video call. It was probably one of her friend's from her life before she became a Titan; it usually was. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before crawling across her bed to her laptop, sitting herself down on the chair in front of her desk. Wiping her eyes once more, she moved the mouse over the answer button before clicking on it.

A light escaped the built in camera on her laptop, and she backed away in shock as a figure formed next to her. She recognized the black suit, the black and orange mask, and the one cold eye that bore a hole through her body.

"Hello…Kat…" She screamed.

"Roy…for the thousandth time, I'm sorry," Garth apologized, pulling the empty bowl of chocolates away from the archer, "I wasn't thinking when I kissed her that day in the hospital. I forgot about you…" Speedy glared at him, so the Atlantean quickly added, "…no offense!" The archer shook his head, turning away from him. "You're not seriously going to hold this grudge for the rest of your life, are you? I mean, come on...it's stupid, all this fighting. Why can't we just be friends again?"

"Because you stole my girlfriend! Best friends do not do that!" Speedy exclaimed, "I loved her, and you knew that, and this whole 'I forgot about you' stuff is bullshit! You couldn't have forgotten about me because before she left, me and her were together every single freaking day, so it's highly unlikely that you forgot all of that in one day!" Garth sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers as he thought.

"You talk about love," he began, "but if you truly loved Kat, you would have been happy with her choice of being with me. As weird as that may sound, it's true. I know you loved her, but I can't tell anymore. By the way you're acting, people would think that you and her are enemies…that's how you treat her. Even during training days, there's no mercy! You fight like her like you would a criminal!"

"Well, isn't that better than going easy on her?" Roy asked, slamming his fists on the countertop, "She gets more practice for fights outside in the real world! The people out there are not going to be merciful, so why should I go easy on her if it's not doing her any good? I mean, if we had trained her like we do now, she might have stood a chance against Slade! She might have been able to avoid the whole 'losing my memory' thing if we had just been harder on her during our fights!" It clicked in the Atlantean's head; that's how it was all connected. Back before Kat lost her memory, during training days, Speedy and her would always joke around and go easy on one another, but they didn't mind because she would do a fine job fighting criminals. Now, the archer probably thought it was all his fault that she didn't get the proper training she did. "If I hadn't gone easy on her before, she probably wouldn't have ended up getting hurt." Just like the Atlantean thought; he was blaming himself again for Kat's accident. Something glistened down the side of Roy's cheek, and Garth tried to get a better look, but the archer wiped it away as fast as he could. The Altantean knew what it was though.

He put a hand on the archer's shoulder, "Roy…" Speedy shrugged the hand off his shoulder, "…you shouldn't be mad at yourself right now. You should be mad at me and Karen because we watched you guys train, and we did nothing to stop you from goofing off. We should have been yelling at you guys to get serious, but we didn't. Sometimes, you just have to stop blaming yourself and move on."

"I couldn't do that…not without her…" he smirked, "…that sounded so cheesy just now." Garth shook his head; at least he was…somewhat…smiling.

"She still would have been with you either way…" The archer looked at him like he was crazy, "…what I mean is that she still would have been your friend."

"Well, I don't want to be just friends! I want to be more that that!"

"But Kat didn't! She just wanted you to be her friend…and you kept pushing her away. If you loved her, you wouldn't have done that." The archer remained silent, so Garth continued, "Look, all the training and how you've been fighting her kind of makes me believe that you do have feelings for her because you're trying to fix something that could have easily helped prevent a problem. You're trying to make her a better fighter, I get that, but right now, Kat needs a friend to be there for her; not two boys screaming at each other over a girl." Speedy nodded his head in agreement. "So…do you think we can just forget this whole thing ever happened and be friends again?"

Roy looked up at him, a smile…a real smile was spread across his face, "Yeah…all this arguing is taking a lot out of me." A high pitch scream broke through the air of the tower, and both boys recognized whose it was in a heartbeat. They only heard is so many times when she was in deep trouble.

"Kat!" The five Titans stood outside her door, pounding on the metal begging her to open it. The girl tried to go unlock it, but Slade stepped in front of her, hitting her across the face and sent her to the ground.

"Wait…you're just a hologram!" she exclaimed, "How the hell-"

"There's a lot that I can do that you do not know about…" He stepped closer to her, "…now, if you try to open that door, I promise that you'll be in more pain than that night I took your powers." She nodded her head; backing away from the man with every step he took that brought him closer to her.

"W-What do you want from me?" she asked; finally getting back up on her feet. He stopped, noticing the fear in her voice as she spoke.

"My, my, my…this is a shame," he said, "I was expecting more a fight from you, but it seems that I was wrong."

"Well, I'm sorry," she whispered, sarcasm burning in her throat as she tried not to be afraid. After all her training, she almost fell back into a fearful state just because of one visit from the man who made her lose her memory, "Things haven't exactly been that great around here…"

"Oh, I know. That conceited archer of yours had no right to hit you." Her head jerked up to look at him; the question of how he knew that lingering on her tongue, "Oh, you didn't know? I've been watching you and your little friends for quite awhile…especially you. You…are a mystery to me." Her shocked gaze never left her face. He was watching her? She backed up a few more steps, hitting the wall behind her. He smirked under his mask, understanding why she was still upset. "Now, you don't think I'd ever watch you while you're getting dressed, do you?...okay, maybe just once." She glared at him, feeling more violated than ever.

"You sick bastard…" she hissed; her hands hesitantly covering herself as she hugged her body tight.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of," he teased as he brought his hand up to touch her cheek, "You have quite a beautiful body…" She jerked her face away from his hand and quickly ran around him. He chuckled, "Besides, is that anyway to talk to the man who's trying to give you a chance to save your city?"

"What…what do you mean?" she stopped dead in her tracks, turning around to face him.

"I didn't take your power for no reason...I needed it for a device of mine…actually, two devices of mine. One is here in Steel City while the other is in Jump City."

"What are these devices?"

"Bombs my dear," he replied, "Both are powerful enough to destroy both cities, and it's all thanks to your powers. The electricity I took from your body is the main power source of these devices, and nothing can shut them off...except for the switch that I have of course. When the one in your city goes off, it takes five minutes before the next one does…unless something disturbs the current the electricity flows through."

"How?"

"A person has to step in the path of it, and the voltage is too powerful for anyone to withstand; even your little superhero friends who have electric powers would die because the electricity would just be too much for them to handle."

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked. She couldn't believe that he giving away his plan to her. It just wasn't Slade…or at least the Slade Robin had described.

"To maybe give you a chance to stop your city from being destroyed…it's highly unlikely that you'll be able to stop it, but I should at least let you have your chance. However," he turned on her, "…there might be another way for you to stop it…" The tone in his voice was eerie, and she didn't like the way he was eyeing her.

"What do I have to do?" Kat questioned slowly. In just a few seconds, Slade had the girl pinned to the wall; her arms held above her head.

"I think it's pretty obvious what you have to do, my darling," he whispered, licking his lips in anticipation, but she couldn't see his mouth.

"L-let g-go of me!" she screamed, but he didn't release her. He was too strong, and not even her kicks to his legs and sides made him let go. The door exploded off its hinges and slammed into the masked man, knocking him onto the ground. Speedy and Aqualad had the scariest looks on their faces. Their teeth were practically bared as they glared at the masked man who was getting up from the ground, but a wall of water from the bathroom sink slammed into him, sending him back to the ground, and the end of a bow struck him over the head.

Slade let out a groan, "You will pay for that…you have twenty-four hours…good luck with the bomb." And with that, he disappeared. The two boys were pissed he was gone, but a sob escaped their friend's lips; immediately bringing them back to reality. Bumblebee was holding Kat, the girl's head buried in their leader's shoulder.

"Kat…" the archer lightly touched the girl's arm, "…don't cry. Everything's okay now…" She didn't respond. She could still feel those hands gripping her wrists as they prepared to violate her. He was too strong for her. After all her training, she was still a weakling; still a terrified child around that man. "Bee…maybe you should go call Robin and tell him what happened. They need to know about these bombs…" She nodded before hesitantly letting go of Kat, running out the room with the twins hot on her trail.

The remaining boys sat the girl down on her bed before she clung to the archer's uniform, staining the fabric of his clothing. He rubbed her back, comforting her as best as he could while Garth brushed his fingers through the girl's hair. They hated to see her cry. Whispering kind words to her, she slowly calmed down.

"It's okay Kat," the Atlantean murmured, "We're here…"

"I have to stop it…" They looked at her confused, "…I have to stop that bomb…"

"How? The only way you can is if…you sacrifice yourself," Speedy thought for a moment, "Wait…you aren't planning on actually doing that are you?" She didn't respond.

"Kat…we'll figure out another way to stop the bomb…" Garth reassured her, "…if we can't, then we'll evacuate the city and get everyone to safety. No one has to die…" Kat ignored them. Steel City was her home, and she was not going to let it get destroyed. It was her power that was controlling the machine, so she was going to do her best to stop it; no matter the consequences.

I'm sorry…this chapter really sucks. It was kind of rushed and all. I've been busy with other stuff, and I've been having massive writer's block! It's not even funny! I've kind of been more focused on other stories for Speedy and Aqualad. I'm going to try and finish this in two or three more chapters, so I can be happy to write other (better) stories! Thanks for at least reading it!