A/N: Please, don't forget to review, it does mean a lot. Hope that this chapter clears up a few things. Also, in light of the info in the newest episode of Young Justice aired two weeks ago, I will try and adjust my story where possible.

Monday the 31st of October, 2:28pm

"Pardon me?" Kaldur said, his head jerking up to meet Mrs. Jeffries eyes.

"Cailan…she's our niece. We weren't named as the guardians in her parents will—"

"Wait, could you back up? Explain from the beginning, please," Artemis said, leaning forward.

"When Cailan was eight or so her parents were killed." Mr. Jeffries growled.

The young heroes shared a look between each other.

"May I ask…how?" Kaldur nearly whispered.

"My brother, Seth and his young wife, Siobhan Leal, died in a car crash when Cailan was eight. She…she was in the crash with them."

"I do suppose that's why she's so…troubled." Mrs. Jeffries continued on for her husband. "The child-psychiatrist said it was post-traumatic stress."

"What was post-traumatic stress?" Dick asked, his attention at its highest point.

"Why, Cailan's troubles. For the three or so years she was with us…she was—"

"She was nothing but a heap of goddamned trouble. She wouldn't behave in school, she wouldn't obey at home—you couldn't try and punish the child, ground her and the little imp would do it again or, something worse. I finally took to locking her in so she wouldn't get up to trouble at night. Know what the little brat did? I'll be damned if she didn't find out how to get out of just about every sort of lock I used to keep her in. So, I began locking her out. She wanted to sneak out at night, fine! But she'd stay out all night if that's how it was going to be. And guess what she did. Damn kid figured out how to get back in!" Mr. Jeffries began pacing as he held his daughter, his face growing red.

"She'd fight with the other foster kids we had through the house. You see, her parents didn't have a will. The government took their money, sold off their house…Cailan was going to be placed in the system. So…her name was placed in the system but…well, we fixed things so that she was living with us. At first we were going to adopt her right away but…but she was such a problem child." The woman said, beginning to wring her hands. "she started fighting with the other kids, getting into the pantries at all hours. We thought…thought maybe giving her charge of her cousin Natalia would help."

"It most certainly didn't! It didn't change anything, except that she acted out more than ever. It got so bad we had to start punishing her!"

"…If Cailan was eight or nine…her cousin would only have been, what, two or three? Studies and schooling for a toddler? Is it not a little much to expect a child to take charge of her?" Kaldur asked, his brow furrowed.

"The child needed to grow up." Mr. Jeffries said, thinking back to when he'd send the little girl to bed without dinner for her outbursts and un-ladylike mouth.

"It is a great responsibility placed upon a child, especially in light of her parent's deaths."

"We did the best we could." Mrs. Jeffries affirmed, her voice suddenly taking on a harsher role. "We took care of her, gave her a home and a chance outside of the system. She was such an ungrateful little mongrel that one night about six years ago she takes our money and our daughter and runs off. She took our baby, just like that!"

"Look I don't know why we're even talking to you. Do you know where she is or not?" Mr. Jeffries demanded, setting his child back in his wife's lap and taking an ominous step towards the three kids.

"No, I am afraid not. The Cailan we know, both her parents are alive. We are sorry to have bothered you this afternoon. We'll be going now." Kaldur said, nodding his head politely and making his way to the door before Artemis or Dick could argue, or open their mouths.

….

"What was that about?" Dick asked, closing in on Kaldur's elbow.

"Yeah, wanna clue us in?" Artemis asked, speaking from the side of her mouth as she put her hands in her jacket pocket.

"We do not know our Cailan is their Cailan," he said stiffly, giving a side glance to the house where he sensed they were being watched by Mr. and Mrs. Jeffries.

"…you're joking right? It's her picture in the papers Kaldur, not to mention the dead woman had her last name!" Artemis said, stopping short.

The leader sighed. "…"

"Dude, I haven't been able to find anything out about Cailan either. It'd make sense if she ran away and made up her school info." Dick said, pausing and glancing between Artemis who was still standing there and Kaldur who was beginning to walk away.

"What purpose would she have for kidnapping her cousin, only to return her six years later?" Kaldur said, not stopping to address them but more a musing to himself.

"She's a messed up kid! Seeing her parents screwed with her brain." Artemis supplied, scoffing and hurrying to catch up with the other two.

"No, think back Artemis. Did she behave like that during her time at Gothem Academy? Dick? Unless I am mistaken, until this year, she had never even gotten a scolding."

"That much is true; her school records are clean until, actually, about the time she started seeing Jake…" Dick said, his head tilting back to look at the sky in remembrance.

"That doesn't get her off the hook; it's the same girl Kaldur!" Artemis protested.

"…perhaps you are right. However, I do not believe we were getting the whole story from Mr. and Mrs. Jeffries."

"Well, the only way to get it would be to talk with Cailan herself." Artemis said, sending a look to Kaldur.

"Yes, it seems so."

…

3:13pm

"Okay, well?" Wally demanded, rushing outside the sea-side layer.

"We did not learn much." Kaldur admitted. "Wally do you know where Cailan liked to hang out? Or, perhaps where she was staying?"

"…other than where we'd meet to go over her science work…no."

"Does anyone else feel like she's getting in the way of what we're actually supposed to be doing?" Artemis asked, folding her arms across her chest in her traditional stance of defense.

"Artemis—"

"No, I agree with her." Superboy spoke up, taking a step away from M'gann.

The other teens turned, surprised; they looked to his clear blue eyes as he stared solemnly back at them with his stoic face.

"Before we got involved with her KF and Artemis were just messing around and arguing. Wally goes ga-ga for her and Artemis and him are at each other's throats. Robin's spending half his time trying to hack into something to get information on her and, Kalder…"

Everyone stiffened at their leader's name. The eggshells were laying crushed underfoot and Conner took a deep breath before plunging into the heart of what he was going to say. "…your head hasn't been in the game. The Bat told you once that if you couldn't get it together you were gone. We need you…but… he's scared of losing Robin…any of us. He's scared. The bat. Scared. We need you fully there Kaldur."

They shifted uneasily, waiting for Kaldur's retort. Kaldur's grey eyes looked at Conner, blank. No one could read the contours of his face; M'gann didn't chance—or think to—read his mind to figure out how bad the situation was. He stood there, chewing his words over, thinking carefully. His mind had been caught over Cailan ever since he'd seen her with Jake in the hall; it was a fire festering inside of him that he hadn't felt since Tula had announced she'd left him for Garth. His head hadn't been fully there. He admitted to himself; it glared at him in neon signs: drugs were up, petty crimes were running rampant, but the overall rate had gone down. Something was wrong, and he was chasing a girl in a paper.

"You are right," he sighed to Conner.

Conner grimaced and then did a double take at his leader. "Uh…what?"

"I have had much on my mind and, as a result have not been thinking clearly." He ran his hands over his face and began to walk to the big-screen computer.

The other's shared a glance and followed him into the heart of their mountain home.

"I have been trying to figure out what is going on in Gothem, in Metropolis. Crime rates as a total have gone down and it does not make any sense! Yet…I cannot think straight. When I do, I—" he broke off and leaned heavily against a table, his palms hot against the cool glass. "she comes into my head. You see, she wears…she wears an Atlantian bracelet. A bracelet that I-I know to have belonged to an Atlantian years ago."

"…so…she found it or something?" Kidflash shrugged, darting around in front of Kaldur, twirling his finger around his hear for 'crazy' as he looked to Artemis. She smirked and rolled her eyes.

"No; jewelry like that does not just 'appear' on the surface world. It is very, very valuable. My people have done everything in their power in the past to get back something so treasured when it has made its way to your surface world. For some reason…I feel it is important."

"I don't see what this has to do with what's been going on?" Artemis said, putting her hand on Kaldur's shoulder.

"Neither do I. Nonetheless, I cannot keep it from my mind."

"Alright, let's wipe the slate and start completely from scratch. Forget the bracelet, forget Cailan. Let's focus on what's been going on in our cities for the past few weeks" Robin said, typing like crazy into his arm-worn keyboard and staring at the screen.

"Here's what we know: crimes like murder, large theft and major drug trades have slowly faded, especially in relation to know baddies, such as Ra's Al Ghul, Sportsmaster, etc. We haven't seen anything in regards to the League of Shadows, and since Lex Luthor 'saved' north and south Rhelasia. Cheshire has vanished.

"Even big time drug dealers who have nothing to do with these guys seem to have vanished. There're less thugs running around than before… Gang violence is down. But—"

"The number of teens and adolescents who are admitted to the hospital for drug-related incidents has gone up as the crime has gone down." Artemis broke in, hands on hips, eyes on the screen. "Kids are continuing to use drugs, no, using them more than ever now. So, what are we missing?"

"It's…like the cities are waiting," M'gann spoke up. "Can't you feel it? Like…everything's holding it's breath for something."

…

Saturday the 12th of November, 3:42am

He pushed against her body; Cailan felt him between her legs and closed her eyes. His hands were roving her chest, his lips sloppily getting slobber all over her mouth and neck. He was fumbling with her clothes, with her own body.

She looked up at Jake, his pupils dilated so big he was all pupil and no eye. She looked up into his eyes as he finally undid the button on her jeans and she hated them. She didn't know why she had wanted to see grey when she looked up. Slate grey; like fog over the ocean that was the color she wanted to see in his eyes.

"Stop," she said. She didn't want to go all the way…not with Jake, not in some trashy apartment on a stained couch. "Jake, stop!" she said louder, pushing at him.

He just began laughing insanely and grabbed her wrists. She didn't know how he could be so skinny, so undernourished, and still be strong enough to keep her down. True, she hadn't had a proper meal in weeks but she was a strong, fit girl. She had been.

As she struggled against the now wiry frame of her once-almost-boyfriend, she was aware of how straw-like her hair was, coated in dirt and oil. She knew her face had dirt and grime smudges. Her clothes were dirty and torn, donning several holes now. His hands were bony against her own thinner wrists; his breath smelled, much like it had when he'd grabbed her and dragged her off weeks ago. His teeth were yellowed and cracking; cavities were huge and obvious in his teeth.

Of course his teeth are decaying; he practically lives on that candy. She thought. Cailan wasn't sure why she was thinking of his teeth while struggling to keep her virginity, but that was what was on her mind.

…

4:07am

"Are you sure?"

"No, I am not sure of anything," Kaldur confessed into his communications ear piece. "But, it is all we have."

"Alright." Red Arrow said from the other side.

They'd finally made a break in the case. There was a new drug out on the market. Its source was unknown but it was highly addictive and highly debilitating. It's surfaced on the streets of Gothem but had spread quickly to Metropolis and surrounding cities and towns. It was wrapped up like brightly colored candies; it was near impossible to tell it for what it was. The wrappers had familiar words on it, cleverly masking it over to look similar and familiar to other candies.

"Previously called 'Product X'. My information says it's currently known as 'Cloud 9' or 'C9X' on the street." Red Arrow said, holding up a guy by the scruff of his shirt, finger to his ear to speak to Kaldur.

"Thank you, my friend. We may have found a source here in Gothem."

"Produc X, Cloud 9, C9X?" Robin said, working at the computer on his wrist while M'gann flew her craft over the Narrows. "If that's any hint at what's in this stuff…well, let's just say it's bad."

"What's so bad about it? I mean, it looks and smells like candy…" Kidflash questioned, holding up a piece of the 'candy' and examining it.

"Well, reports are that you're addicted after one go at it. After that…you're kind of crazed. The ingredients listed…there are components of laughing gas in there. That stuff's bad news man. Not to mention the other chemicals it's loaded with." Robin continued, not glancing up.

Superboy reached over and crushed the candy to dust from Kidflash's hands. "Just to be careful," he smirked.

"Hmph." Kidflash said, crossing his arms.

"Team, we need to be focused. M'gann, land us on one of the abandoned buildings in the Narrows. We'll split up and look for something on foot."

"What exactly are we looking for Kaldur?" Artemis asked, securing her arrows to her.

"Dealers, addicts. Any person who may hold information."

"Hey, guys," Robin interrupted. "Whatever you do, don't try that stuff."

They paused and looked at him while M'gann landed her ship.

"Well, it's addictive…but, the mixture of chemicals…its highly unstable and…so far, it's looking like too much of it is irreversibly fatal."

…

4:09am

Cailan crashed into the fire-escape railing, impaling her stomach on the horizontal bar. Her scraggily hair flew over her shoulder as she whipped around to glance behind her. Jake was right on her tail. He was screaming some nonsense she didn't understand about getting caught and 'them wanting their due back' and other ravings. She couldn't focus. Her adrenalin was all that was keeping her going at this point. She was hungry and tired after weeks of this miserable living in hiding.

Knowing she only had a short time before the natural chemical wore off and that she was contending with the artificial chemicals pumping strength into Jake she threw herself over the side of the railing and grabbed hold of the ladder. It began crashing to the ground with a horrible squealing sound that Cailan was sure would bring the world down on her. She screamed as she headed towards the ground, unable to hold back.

The ladder jerked and her grip was over powered. She tumbled a few feet to the ground, landing in a sprawled heap underneath the iron works along the side of the condemned building. She looked up through dizzied eyes and saw Jake was already spider-ing down towards her.

It was the familiar dream-scenario: she regained her balance, only to trip and fall, and struggle to get back to her feet where she only seemed to fall again. Her heart was thrown into pumping in overdrive; every vane in her body was pulsating with a growing amount of adrenalin. In no time at all it seemed Jake had fallen to her.

His face was twisted in a way that scared her enough to be sick. His hands were claws around her arms as he pulled her from the ground. She was dimly aware of his hand colliding with the side of her face. Her brain was frozen in fear from Jakes face.

He's totally insane. She thought as she was thrown to the ground.

His lips were chapped and grey and spread into a wicked, crazy smile, revealing rotting teeth as he bore down on her. His eyes were wide; he looked like a cartoon. His eyes were white with a large circle of black in the center and nothing more. His skin was yellowed, his hair greasy and limp. He was so pale and his face was contorted with rage and he was shaking, but she heard laughter coming out of his mouth.

"Jake!" she finally managed to scream, landing a defensive kick into his stomach that pushed him up off of her.

She stumbled to her feet and started off for a small alleyway when someone emerged from the shadows and grabbed her by her knotted hair. Cailan could hear various sounds of struggling, heard a girl's laughter and Jake screaming and what sounded like a dog. Foul breath tickled her ear and disgusting, long fingernails grazed down her cheek.

"What is a fine piece of ass like you running for sweetheart? Heh, don't you know Baal could spread you like a flower?"

She shuddered and was lost in her shock when she flew into the wall of the alley she'd been running for. Looking back she saw Baal was flat on his back.

…

"Down there!" Robin yelled and, without a word from the other's, he leapt off the building.

Kidflash was quick to join him; he'd heard the scream too and saw two figures struggling.

"Don't you know it's wrong to pick on girls?" he taunted his fallen foe; it was a strong, muscular looking guy who was pale and wearing paler makeup on his face. He had long scraggily hair and a crazy outfit that Kidflash almost mistook for a trani's outfit.

"Robin!" Kaldur called; Robin ducked down and Aqualad's whip lashed around a meta-human hyena's face and brought it to the oil-slick concrete.

Artemis was letting her arrows fly, locking Baal and the hyena down with nets. A girl in a pin-up –like jester's outfit, all in tatters, launched herself at the blond and landed a good kick to the face. Artemis straightened and began hand to hand combat, landing a kick of her own. The jester-girl got a pissed look on her face and retorted with a missed round-house kick and a punch that landed squarely in Artemis' gut. Taking the opportunity, Patch brought her elbow down into the young heroin's back and sent her tumbling off the roof of one of the buildings.

Superboy saw this and leapt to action, catching the blond and using his hands to claw into the side of the brick building, slowing their decent to a comfortable slide. Baal had by then freed himself and was attempting combat with M'gann who was proving difficult for him to contend with. He finally grabbed a pipe and landed a solid blow to her head, sending her crashing through a building.

"M'gann!" Kaldur yelled.

In his distraction Jack sent a fire-ball his way. Kaldur's backpack erupted into flames. The leader roared in pain and tore the smoking mass of flames from his shoulders. There were burns through his wetsuit where the pack had been. Jack's grin grew in his pumpkin face and his eyes sparkled with the mischievously wicked flames of hell. Kaldur soon felt his breath leaving him as Jack used the surrounding air to feed the fire he was creating; affected by the heat Kaldur fell to his knee, coughing in the smoke.

Red Arrow set fly a missile that erupted into fire-quelling, gelatinous mush. He swung down and shot another arrow towards Patch who was in a very seductive confrontation with Kidflash. This drew the girl's attention to himself and Kidflash took full advantage, using his sped to tie her up in her own costume and disorient her.

Robin was in a battle with Hyena, the latter's claws raking across the youngest hero unforgivingly as Robin dealt out precise martial-artist blows. Robin kicked the beast in the head and flipped it over his shoulder, catching its stomach with his heel while it lay on the ground. He looked down at the meta-human, caught off guard by its suddenly absent defense.

Cailan watched the young heroes fighting as she pulled herself up against the wall. Her head was throbbing and her vision was doubled. But there they were, the Sidekick-Heroes she'd heard so much about, right in front of her eyes.

There they are Cailan: heroes…come to rescue you. She shook her head disbelievingly and regretted doing so as pain shot down her spine and through her limbs and she crumpled back to the ground. Curling into herself she resolved to wait and watch; she'd get in the way of these professional fighters. What else could she do?

Jack was coming at Red Arrow with a vengeance, but Cailan wasn't watching that. She was looking at Aqualad; he was on his hands and knees, breathing hard and in pain. Her heart ached watching him suffer his burns. She cringed with every blow one of the heroes was dealt; she didn't understand how they could take it.

Artemis was back on her feet and she and Red Arrow stood back to back, arrows pointed and launched out at their foes. Robin was saved by the elder boy's attack when he miscalculated Hyena's abilities and found himself on the wrong end of very sharp claws. Kidflash found himself trying to round in the flames Jack was once again drawing straight from hell and was saved from being charred in a particularly violent exposition when Artemis launched and arrow and rope and swung to him. They went up and over onto a fire escape across the lot, watching the battle unfold below.

"Why do you look so familiar?" Robin laughed as Patch attacked him from behind, leaving Red Arrow to contend with Hyena.

"Familiar? Hah! I'm an original thinker kid!" She growled, eyes narrowed as she launched herself at him.

"Nah, seen the outfit somewhere…" he grinned, dodging her and nailing a hit to her jaw.

"…wait…HEY!" he called, finally realizing why she looked familiar.

Baal had, by that time been on his feet and trying to catch Jake and battle Kaldur. M'gann was at Kaldur's back, trying to ward off flames from Jack's uncontrollable fire. Superboy was the one the pumpkin head was fighting now and Artemis and Kidflash were helping Red Arrow fend off the frenzied half-animal.

"Time for drastic measures," Baal growled out. He finally managed to grab Jake and with a solid hit to the back of his neck knocked him unconscious. Baal then tossed him over his shoulder and extended his hand towards the three in front of him.

Before they had time to react gas was issuing forth from up his sleeve.

"Don't breath it in!" Robin yelled, frantic, forgetting all about Patch.

She grinned horrifically down at him and swung a jagged pipe towards his head from behind, intending to land a killing blow to The Bat's sidekick. Kidflash, presently at Artemis' side, saw the move and launched himself with his speed to Robin's aid. Kidflash shoved Robin, hard, out of the way, his own body now in the way of the attack. Artemis, catching on fast, just managed to let an arrow fly. The action saved Kidflash's life; the arrow struck the pipe and altered it from a killing strike to merely a debilitating one: Wally fell unconscious.

Artemis threw herself at Patch and engaged her violently, hardly thinking about strategy or skill at this point. Patch continued to taunt the girl with slurs against Kidflash and herself nearly sending the green-clad teen into a rage.

Robin was picking himself up off the ground, watching as Kaldur, Superboy and M'gann fell in a heap of coughing and smoke-induced blindness. M'gann and Superboy began laughing uncontrollably. They were soon lying on the ground in hysterics, tears streaming down their face, unable to breathe or gain control of themselves. Kaldur coughed out a few laughs and struggled with his chuckles for a moment, but he found his jelly-fish venom made him more resistant to the gas than normal people.

The boy-wonder was then confronted with Jack, who had bloodlust in his vacant and hellish eyes. Baal caught Red Arrow with a blow to the back as he battled Hyena. Baal then dumped Jake into Hyena's arms and sent the order for retreat. The beast did so, fangs drooling with a fight-mongering.

Baal returned to the fray, watching Jack and Patch's progress with the heroes. The criminal leader sent a look to Cailan as she sat against the wall, and one back to the fight. The smile that drew across his face sickened the girl's stomach and she pressed closer into the wall. It did little good; Baal was on her in an instant and with all of her kicking and screaming he pulled her off the ground to her weak feet. He struck her again and, hand around her wrist, looped his arm around her body, half dragging and half carrying her towards his exit.

Aqualad was the one to come to her aid, still coughing away the smoke that left two of his teammates debilitated and choking on the pavement. He shocked the assailant with his electrical talents, causing him to drop Cailan.

Cailan closed her eyes and tried to get her bearings back. Her head felt like someone had scrambled eggs—shells and all—into a dirty jar.

Patch caught a kick from Artemis and threw her into Robin, entangling the two in each other and taking the opportunity for herself to run. Jack took the moment of the two's incapacitated state to head for Kidflash. The Jack-O-Lantern boy, the controller of flames, had murder in his eyes as he walked towards the still-unconscious form of Kidflash lying on the street. Kaldur didn't see the danger for his friend as he continued to spar a losing fight with Baal; M'gann and Superboy were choking and gasping for air as the laughing gas was reaching its epoch of effectiveness before it would start to die down, and as a result they lay useless on the ground. Artemis and Robin were trying to separate themselves and get their heads together; Red Arrow was trying to stumble to his feet, his mind still cluttered as he slowly regained consciousness.

Jack turned to Kidflash, fire growing in his hand and the twisted grin slowly slid into a frown as he glared down to the boy. There was death in his stare and murder was his intent. Kidflash—Wally, funny and bright—was not going to make it out of this fight. Jack wanted someone to burn, and who better than the only real threat to him? He would watch Kidflash char into ashes and bone. He leaned down and tore away the mask from Wally's face, and raised his hand to strike out the flames against the unrecognized boy, going in for the kill and—

"Hey!"

—he paused and looked, just in time to see a busted pipe come swinging into his face. Jack fell, his pumpkin head splattered and pumpkin gunk leaking out through the breaks in the husk, the candle sent tumbling out and flickering in the night.

Kaldur managed a solid punch into Baal but with another trick from up his sleeve—literally—Baal set off a flash bomb and escaped with moments while Aqualad was stunned.

…

4:36am

Cailan sank to her knees, leaning on the broken pipe she'd hit the Jack with. It was her only support and it shook with her weight until she slumped and let it fall with a heavy metallic clang. She was on her knees right by Kidflash. Her head was spinning. His red hair was dancing in her sight, his freckles wouldn't stop doubling and un-doubling as she looked at him. And as the other heroes started to regain themselves, Red Arrow and Robin rushing over to assist Superboy and Miss Martian in their attempt to breathe, Cailan's vision began to clear a little.

And when it had, she did a double take to the boy lying down in front of her. Her hand trembled as she picked up the mask and looked from it, from the marker of Kidflash, to the boy on the ground. She was looking at Kidflash, her once-friend, Wally West.

"…omigawd…" she gasped, her hand going to her stomach as she stared down at him.

Trembling all over, the events of the night finally taking their toll on her, she looked over her shoulder to where the other heroes had began gathering. M'gann's mind had, due to her being so incapacitated by the laughing gas, lost its ability to keep Superboy and Kaldur's appearances continually shifting. Cailan could see them as they were.

And looking at the two faces she'd become used to seeing at school, along with Wally's unmasked face below her, she knew who the blond girl and the boy wonder were. Artemis Crock and Dick Greyson stood, as good as unmasked to Cailan.

Slightly panicked, Cailan made a sudden movement and pushed herself up using the pipe she still held. Her action scared the heroes into tense postures, not sure how to react now that they were sure, at least, that she knew Wally was Kidflash. She dropped the pipe almost instantly and began backing away, her eyes big and doe-like, blinking as if she were stunned.

"Cailan, please, calm down. We're your friends, you're safe now," M'gann said telepathically.

It was the last straw for the night. Cailan's eyes rolled to the back of her head and her legs crumpled beneath her. Her head would have crashed into the ground if Roy hadn't caught her. Kaldur looked on, unsure what was going through him, while Roy supported the limp girl's form and slid his arm under her knees. He made carrying her look easy.

"…he's gonna kill us," Robin said, paling.