Whoa! This chapter went completely crazy and ran away with me for a bit! It's mad how this is starting to end up! Please read and let me know what you think of it! Enjoy!

"So what you are saying is," Robin asked seriously. "Is that this was a rush job?"

"Precisely." Raven nodded. She was sat in the main room with all the eyes of the Titans on her as she explained what she had discovered on Jinx's wounds. She sneaked a quick look over at Beast Boy who gave her an encouraging smile and she returned it briefly so it appeared to skim across her face and left her cheeks glowing faintly pink. She was feeling refreshed and more alive than she had been in days despite the fact that she had spent almost the entire morning at the site of the last attack gathering more evidence. Even though she was on a high at Beast Boy no longer being angry with her, as she looked around the room she could feel her mood waning as a gloom had set over the inhabitants of the Tower, just as she had predicted. All of them were in a sense of bewildered shock and she had had to keep her smiles to herself whenever Beast Boy looked over at her. I won't think it, I refuse to think it, she had forced her daydreaming down into the depths of her mind. You have a job to do, you won't say you're in…

"Jinx was clearly targeted the same way Terra was. This was no random assault on a random Titan. They knew when she was on patrol and they followed her to a quiet spot. Then her attacker was interrupted by the arrival of me and Herald," She heard herself saying, thankful she didn't have to say her killer. "That's the only reason she is still alive. As a result, they didn't get a chance to cover up their tracks and this is what I found."

She drew some photos out from under her cloak and for a second they all looked over at the spot where Kid Flash would usually have been sitting with Jinx close by. He had been in a terrible state that morning, having to almost be manhandled from Jinx's bedside. He had been told to go and rest by Robin and he had done but only for an hour before he had emerged from his room and demanded to do something. Right now he was out on patrol, everyone thinking it would be better if he was away from the Tower and doing something proactive. So far he hadn't even looked at Cyborg, turning away from him whenever he entered the room. Cyborg was currently sitting between Robin and Beast Boy with a face set like stone as he listened. Raven could feel the guilt radiating from him; it mingled with a cocktail of other powerful emotions in the room but was still the strongest. She put the photos down on the table and passed them towards Robin.

"The most noticeable difference is that there is only one major wound," She said. "But when I looked closely, there's something else there. See it?" She pointed as Robin squinted at the picture. Cyborg looked over his shoulder and then looked away. It felt sickening, examining these pictures like they were looking at a slab of meat instead of somebody they knew. Robin and Raven didn't look unnerved though, he noticed. They were sadly all too used to it.

"Are those…ridges?" Robin said as he scanned the picture. On the edges of the wound, he could see wavy marks in the skin that he had never seen before.

"They are finger marks." Raven explained. "Those bits were made by the attacker's hands. They obviously didn't get the chance to remove them like they did with Terra."

"Hold on," Beast Boy said, waving the pictures away so he didn't have to look at them anymore. "Finger marks? Are you saying she was…?"

"Ripped open. Yes." Raven said, bowing her head as everyone gasped and looked around the table at each other in sick horror. "I wish it wasn't true but…yes."

"God, what the fuck are we dealing with here?!" Speedy growled. "This is barbaric!"

"It's inhuman!" Aqualad quickly agreed and Speedy gave him a look of pleased surprise.

"This thing isn't human." Raven spoke up and they all turned back to look at her. "There are finger marks but no prints or DNA. There wouldn't have been any time to get rid of them so they can't have been there in the first place."

"No DNA at all?" Even Robin's unshakable demeanour had been badly ruffled and he stared at her stunned. "But what would that make them?"

"I don't know; I haven't got anything else to go on." Raven told him. "There was only one more thing and, to be honest, I'm not even sure if it is something at all. It's just…when I was healing Jinx I got this feeling…I can't think of a way to describe it but there was something there that was…familiar, like I had sensed it before but a lot more strongly..." She could feel everyone's confused gazes on her and she wished she hadn't mentioned it. "I know it sounds stupid but…"

"No, no, it could be useful." Robin said.

"Yeah Raven," Beast Boy piped up, giving her another one of his comforting glances that she lapped up like water. "Don't feel like that, you were right to tell us. Right Robin?"

"Right." Robin affirmed as his fingers crossed into each other and he rested his head on them in thought. "Believe me, right now we need all the help we can get."

A little while later, Speedy found himself wandering aimlessly around the corridors of the Tower. After that meeting, he really needed to clear his head. It felt like the information they had just received was buzzing around in his brain like sickening moths around a lightbulb and there was a big part of him that wished he hadn't heard it. Everyone was already suffering so much that it didn't seem fair for this to be dumped on them as well. God, what is happening to us? He thought crossly as he swiped his bow at the ground, the tip only just skimming above it and avoiding possible damage.

He swept around a corner angrily like a gust of strong wind but stopped suddenly when he saw he wasn't alone in this long stretch of hallway. Aqualad was standing about ten feet away from him staring downwards out of the tall window in front of him. He didn't move so Speedy assumed he hadn't seen him and he took the moment to let his eyes bask in him. He looked so amazing standing there with the morning sunlight catching on his skin, making it glow, and shining on his jet-black hair. His body looked so toned in his tight blue and black uniform and his ass could have belonged to an Ancient Greek sculpture of a god. Speedy could feel a groan rising in his chest and he had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself being heard. He felt a pang in his heart, like he had just shot one of his own arrows into it with shameless accuracy. Of all the people he could have fallen for, he thought cursing himself, why did it have to be him?

Speedy wasn't sure when he had started having these kind of thoughts about one of his closest friends and teammates. It felt like one day a cover had been lifted from his eyes and he had almost been blown away by how strong his attraction was. In a way it shouldn't have been a surprise-he had known for a while he swung both ways-but to find himself like this, palms sweating and heart racing whenever he was there like a teenage girl with her first crush, it felt so unlike him. Usually when it came to things like this he was the one in control and running the show. He had never been so powerless and that both excited and terrified him to the core.

He had tried hanging around him a lot more in an attempt to get into his head. It had seemed like a good idea but all it had resulted in was a lot of bickering, Bee yelling at them about how they were worse than Mas y Menos and the twins themselves giggling behind her back as they got told off. It had been a disaster and he was sure he had blown his chances for sure until that evening by the sea when Aqualad had laughed with him and held him tightly…even if it had been an accident, Speedy had seen the warm colour on his face. That had given him hope, more hope than he thought he could bear and the last thing he wanted was for it to go down in flames.

He was about to turn around and walk away when Aqualad spoke in a low tone without turning his head.

"Hey Speedy."

Speedy almost fell backwards trying to look calm and collected. He proceeded to walk over to him with his usual swagger. "What's up fish sticks?" He said breezily. "What are you looking at? Any sweet babes trying to get a tan?"

Aqualad pointed down at the ground with a solemn look. Speedy peered out and instantly felt like he had been pummelled in the gut. Beast Boy and Raven were walking around the island in deep conversation though they were so high up they couldn't hear what was being said. They were both pointing at various rocks and Raven was using her powers to move them around easily as if they were children's building blocks.

"They're clearing a space for Terra." Aqualad said in a voice that was just above a whisper. Speedy looked at him and saw he had bent his head forwards so his forehead was against the cold glass. "Beast Boy managed to persuade everyone and Raven was willing to help him. If they have to clear a space for a second plot…"

"Oh Garth…" Speedy gulped a little before he put his hand on his shoulder and forced him to meet his eyes. "That won't happen. Jinx will be OK, we all will be."

"How can you promise that?" Aqualad said, his dark eyes staring into Speedy's. "How can you be so sure?"

Speedy was about to give a confident response but upon looking into his face, he faltered. "I don't know." He admitted as he moved his arm further across his shoulders so he was a step away from hugging him. He could feel Aqualad leaning into the soothing response, along with the stretch of his shoulders and every movement he made and he had to force himself to dwell on the issue at hand. "All I know is that we can't give up on us, that's all. This bastard will pay for his actions, I assure you."

Aqualad gave him an almost smile but he still didn't look convinced as his gaze returned to the window. "Seeing Beast Boy and Kid Flash so in pain…it really made me think." He murmured. "I can't imagine being so attached to someone that almost losing them would destroy you."

"I could." Speedy said, the words slipping out before he could get control of them. The air around them seemed to turn to jelly as Aqualad slowly turned back to face him. The distance between them had never seemed so small.

"You could?" He asked, almost laughing as if he could barely believe what he was hearing. "You? With who?"

"Umm…" Speedy couldn't take it anymore. As his brain whirred to try and find an answer, any answer that could get him out of this mess with his heart unscathed, his body was telling him to do something rather different. He leaned forwards, cutting off any further questions by pressing his lips against his. He kept them there for a few seconds, feeling the softness of Aqualad's mouth against his own before he drew back a little so their faces were inches apart.

For a few moments there was silence. Speedy's breath quickened as the Atlantian stared into his eyes. He felt almost giddy, like he could feel the blood rushing through his head and he feared he had made a fatal mistake.

"Garth, I-" He went to say something but was stopped by Aqualad's lips crashing back into his. Speedy almost pulled back in surprise but then he warmed into the kiss as he put his other arm around him and swept him into a tight embrace. Every emotion they had poured into that kiss as Aqualad nibbled on his bottom lip like a little fish and Speedy stroked a hand down his side and stopped at his arse. Aqualad moaned as he clutched it and they were both forced to break apart for air.

They stood like that panting for a minute with their foreheads still against each other. Speedy darted a glance up and down the corridor but no one else was there.

"Oh my God, I…" Speedy gasped out between breaths and Aqualad laughed at him, gently putting his finger to his lips to stop him spluttering.

"How long have you wanted to do that?" He said with a grin.

"For far too long." Speedy answered. "Why do you think I've been annoying you for so long?"

Aqualad rolled his eyes. "Of course how could I have failed to notice those brilliant seductions?"

"Hey!" Speedy cried out. "It had never been like this before…there was so much more on the line…"

"Is that a fish pun?"

"No! Oh shit, this is not how I imagined this would go…"

"It's OK." Aqualad rested a hand on his face and the butterflies in both their stomachs went into overdrive as they shared a look. "I kind of like nervous Speedy."

"You do?" He asked and when Aqualad nodded he gave a small grin. "Now, erm…shouldn't we take this out of the corridor?"

He looked around again and noticed a door a little way from them that he knew lead to the laundry cupboard and he grinned wickedly. Aqualad looked around to see what he was grinning at before giving almost the same reaction.

They edged over to the cupboard without letting go of each other so they moved almost like crabs with big side-steps. When they got in the cupboard, the darkness swamped them suddenly and Speedy almost jumped at how quickly it went black. He heard Aqualad laugh and was then glad of it so he didn't see how crimson his face got.

"You're not scared of the dark are you?" He asked lightly and Speedy felt a hand cup his chin.

"Course not. Why, do you need me to hold you?" He grinned as he let himself be sucked into another kiss, this one even more passionate as if their new-found seclusion was spurring them on. Speedy balled his hand into Aqualad's smooth dark hair as he felt the other boy press him hungrily against the wall. I never knew he was so dominant, he thought. Nor did I know how good this would feel…

Small moans escaped them as they strained at each other. They were so engulfed in the kiss that they didn't notice the door opening until the light hit them in the eyes, making them blink crazily. They hurriedly broke the kiss but their tangled limbs acted as if separate from the rest of them and froze around each other. They stared at the entrance to the cupboard as Starfire stood there in a state of wide-eyed confusion.

"Umm…friends?" she said, her green eyes struggling with the image of her two constantly arguing teammates wrapped around each other like that. "Is everything…"

She didn't finish her sentence as both of them blurted out the same thing at the same time.

"Don't tell Robin!"

Kid Flash was sat by Jinx's bedside again even though he knew he really wasn't supposed to be. His friends had been telling him it wasn't good for him or her if he stayed with her all the time but he had been out on patrol almost the entire day and he had to see her. It was crazy, he thought as he stroked his thumb up and down her motionless hand, how a year before he hadn't known she existed and now he couldn't imagine living without her. He knew why his friends were doing this, they were preparing him for if she didn't wake up yet that possibility had never even ran through his mind. He knew her better than anyone else and he knew that she would fight for her life. She was one of the strongest people he had ever met.

He had asked her once late one night why she had kept on going, after she had told him the story of her horrendous upbringing. "What on Earth in you kept you going? Anyone else would have just given up." He had said amazed as they had laid there next to each other with only the moon peeping through the window listening to their conversation.

"I don't know. I suppose I was looking for a reason to keep going." She had said as her hand had found his among the bedclothes. "I was looking for some sort of a purpose and I stumbled into a lot of the wrong places looking for it. But…I don't have to look anymore." She had smiled at him and it felt like the world had done a backflip.

"I love you."

She had said those words to him then for the first time and now he whispered it to her like they were in a fairy tale and those would be the magic words to break the spell she was under. He looked at his sleeping beauty through blurry eyes; her hair had been taken out and was now spread out over the pillow like pink satin, her wound had been cleaned and reduced to a thin red line like a red pencil, her lips just parted as if expecting a kiss. He longed to kiss her but was scared that her lips would be cold and lifeless like kissing a statue on a tomb. He had to content himself with holding her hand and talking to her, hoping that it would lead her back.

He heard the door open and close behind him and he recognised the heavy footsteps easily. He didn't turn around and he scowled as Cyborg took a few steps towards the bed.

"Hey." He said hesitantly with the tone of someone approaching a growling tiger.

"Hey." He grunted back, still not looking at him.

"You know you're not supposed to be here." Cyborg said but there was no sense of warning in his voice.

"You gonna kick me out?" Kid Flash said shortly, daring to glare at him over his shoulder. He saw how Cyborg was looking down at Jinx's face and he felt his resolve soften a little. Cyborg held the look of a crushed, defeated man and even though he was still angry, he couldn't help feeling some pity for him as well.

He didn't object when Cyborg pulled up a chair on the other side of the bed and pulled the covers a little higher up so more of her wound was hidden from view. There was silence for a few moments until he finally said "I should have been there. I should have taken that-"

"They wouldn't have gone for you," Kid Flash found himself saying, his words filled with less anger than he had thought. When Cyborg looked at him astounded he explained "Robin told me she was deliberately targeted. She was already marked."

"But if I had been there-"

"Then they would have found some way to get you away from her." Kid Flash cut him off again. "From the sounds of whoever this is, they wouldn't have been stopped by that. I should've been there."

"Why you?" Cyborg questioned him.

"Because…" Kid Flash screwed up his face before sighing. "When I first met her, that night at the museum, I remember what she said about people coming after her and I told her to let me worry about them…I was the one who was meant to protect her and I didn't."

"Flash, seriously what else could you have done?" Cyborg told him firmly. "We both know what she's like, she's like a little sister to me. Even if we had known she was the next target she would have gone out there anyway, she wouldn't have stood being cooped up. She's way too independent and stubborn for that. What matters now is that whoever did this to her is stopped before anyone else suffers."

Kid Flash sat there quietly for a moment as he let what he said sink in before he said softly "Yeah, you're right." They continued to sit in silence as Cyborg took her other hand in his large robotic one. Kid Flash saw him but didn't say anything.

Cyborg looked back at the line on her neck like a red choker with fury. "I hate seeing that there," He spat out. "Knowing that they had to put their hands there… I mean what could have had the strength…"

"Their hands…" Kid Flash repeated numbly before slightly frowning in thought. Suddenly he snapped his head around to look at Cyborg then looked down at his hand on the sheets. "Their hands, oh my God, their hands! Cyborg, don't you see it?"

"See what?" Cyborg looked at him as he shot up and started almost jumping around the room. "See what Flash?"

"Why there was no DNA or finger prints!" Kid Flash stood agitated in the middle of the room, waving his arms like he was directing air traffic. "There were none to begin with because they didn't have human hands, they were robotic! What else would have the strength but a robot?!"