Suspense. A few more chapters left until the big finale! Keep reading and keep REVIEWING! I love you all.

~Rose


Chapter 27: Guilty measures

"I'm sorry Kori." Red X whispered just before he threw her on the ground and jumped back. EleXir jumped out of no where next to X's side.

Red X wrapped an arm around her and said, "Catch ya later kids." He pressed the X on his belt and disappeared with EleXir.

Robin quickly picked Starfire up bridal style and looked to Raven. "Take us back to my house."

TT

The team sat in the batcave, still in their costumes and awaited as Richard messed with the small device Red X had purposely dropped-or so they thought.

Kori sat in one of the black leather couches with a mug of coffee. Her eyes were full of confusion and slight fear. She sipped her coffee and stared blankly at the floor.

'I'm sorry, Kori.'

Red X's words rang throughout her head and she couldn't get it out. How did he know her name...and why did it sound so familiar? She shook her head vigorously and tried not to think about it too hard.

The girls walked over to Kori and sat around her with their own blankets and drinks.

"Hey Hun, how ya holding up?" Karen asked rubbing her back in a motherly way.

Kori sniffed and sipped her coffee. "I'm fine, just a little shaken up."

"We all are. Now that we know Red X has a new partner and we still don't know what Slade is planning, were doomed at this point." Rachel explained as she swirled around her herbal tea.

Toni leaned back on her hands and sighed. "Who was that girl anyway? She put up one heck of a fight."

"That's the truth, I think she dislocated my shoulder!" Jenny rolled her shoulder back and forth. Then she said, "I have got to pee!"

As the pink haired girl stood up, Karen yelled, "You've been having to pee a lot lately! Loosen up on the water!"

Jenny gave a fake laugh before she walked into the bathroom. Karen turned back to the girls. As they all conversed, Richard spent another good ten minutes trying to figure out how the device worked. Then, Jade came downstairs much to everyone's surprise.

"Jade!" Jenny yelled as she stepped out of the bathroom. "You're here!"

Jade smiled and brushed her long black hair back. "Yeah, I'm feeling better and Roy told me you all were here." She cast a small glance at Roy and smiled. His cheeks flushed red.

"Well, as of right now Richard is trying to figure out what that stupid device that Red X left behind does! And it's been like an hour!" Jenny exclaimed. Wally wrapped his arm around her shoulders to calm her down.

"Oh right, Roy told me about you're guy's run in with Red X." Jade sat down in a chair and removed her leather jacket.

"Yeah," Rachel made her way over to the table were Jade sat at. "And he has a new friend."

"Total bitch." Jenny said and Kori gasped while Karen hissed and yelled "Jen!"

"What! She killed my shoulder!" Jenny said.

Jade's face flushed red and she felt guilty. She kept her mouth shut to avoid any questioning. Before anyone else could speak, A bright white light shined and everyone shielded their eyes.

"Yo! Turn that off!" Vic yelled.

The light died down and the device showed a video of Slade. It was a hologram. Richard soon figured out that the device was suppose to be a message from Slade.

"Hello young Titans," Slade said as everyone gathered around the small hologram. "I'm sure you're all wondering who my new apprentice is. Let me just say, she's closer than you think." The villain laughed a bone chilling laugh and Jade's fists clenched.

"You're still wondering who I am, what I do, what I plan on doing...A piece of advice for you children, you wills never beat me. I could spend weeks maybe even months torturing you, and maybe I will." Kori grasped Richard's hand tightly.

Slade finished, "but I have other things in mind."

After that the small device shrunk back into it's ball form and Richard picked it up. He threw it into an evidence drawer and spun around in his chair. The team waited for him to speak.

"Richard-

"NO!" He cut Kori off and yelled out of frustration. "Don't tell me everything is going to be ok because obviously it's not! Slade is planning something big, he hinted it in that message and he's going to keep messing with us until we find out what it is!"

Everyone stood there appalled at Richard's outburst. But he wasn't finished. "We're going to need more training hours." They were all about to protest but decided against it.

Kori stepped forward in attempt to soothe her boyfriend. "Richard, you can't put that much pressure on us. We're only fifteen and still so young. I think Bruce and his friends should handle this."

"Kori," he walked up to her and she stood her ground. "We're not in the third grade anymore. If we can't stand on our own now then how are we going to six years from now?"

"Try taking baby steps. We don't need to try and be the world's best heroes right now. Bruce is more experienced than us and were all sca-

"Yes I know you're all scared. But were the only ones who know about this Slade guy and he isn't good news. I intend to get to the bottom of this mission even if it takes me weeks, months, even years. I've been doing this kind of stuff for a long time now and baby steps isn't how I work."

He sounded like an adult. And that's not what they were. They were teenagers who wanted to try and live a normal life without having to worry about someone getting hurt every five minutes or their city being in danger every day. But here Richard was making it sound like he was some kind of psycho leader.

Kori couldn't stand hearing her Richard talking like this. "You sound crazy Richard! Look at us," she held out her hand to all of their friends who were currently listening to every word the couple was saying. "We're just...just...young. Trying to live life to the fullest while we can." She stepped closer to him and gave him a pleading look.

"Kor...I understand. But our home might be in danger."

"But we don't know that for sure."

"Right. but we have to be prepared for whatever Slade throws at us."

Kori let out a sigh and crossed her arms. "What about your friends, school...me?"

His jaw muscle tended and he looked away. He knew if her saw the look in her eyes he'd cave in and give up. That shows weakness in a leader.

"We'll all be okay. I promise." He held her hand and looked at his team. True faces were full of fear and a bit of hope.

"Don't make promises you can't keep Richard." Those were Kori's last words to him before she walked out of the Batcave.

Richards sighed in frustration and before he closed up he turned to his team and said, "Power down, it's been a long night."

TT

The next week at school was slowly dragging on. It was only Wednesday and fortunately, everyone was tired. Jenny stood at her locker with Wally and discussed their 'issue.'

"Wall, I don't even know if I'm pregnant for sure." She said as she grabbed her math book.

He leaned against one of the lockers next to hers and sighed. "Why haven't you gotten a test?"

She rolled her eyes and fished around in her bag for something. "It's not that simple."

"How? All you do is go to a gas station or Wal-Mart or something! And buy a test!"

She shushed him and grabbed his arm. "Keep your voice down!" She grabbed out a pack of mint gum and stuck it in her mouth. "I'm fifteen Wally. How would you feel if you were working a cash register and a fifteen year old girl walked up with a pregnancy test?"

He put a finger to his chin and pondered the thought. After a few moments, he nodded his head. "Okay, understandable. But hey," he put a comforting hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him with sad eyes. "I'll go with you. And..I'll be with you every step of the way."

She smiled and kissed him on the lips. "You're the best."

"I know."

TT

The group sat in drama and listened to Mrs. Carter go on about being in someone else's shoes. Usually, drama class was fun but today it was so boring and long. Just like the week.

"Okay, I know it's been a long week so far and I bet you all are bored to tears. Soooo you can have the last thirty minutes of class to just talk." She walked away in her pink high heels and sat at her desk typing away on her computer.

The class immediately roared up In conversation. Mrs. Carter snapped her head to the class, he blinded curls bouncing as she did so. "Whisper!"

They laughed and talked more quietly. The group moved to the small, classroom stage and decided to talk their. Gar flopped onto the stage like a fish and groaned.

"I hate schoooool." He said and wiggled his body for emphasis.

"I hear ya." Toni added as she fixed the collar on her black shirt.

"You guys wanna hang after school?" Richard asked everyone.

"Me and Jenny are..have to do something." Wally explained. The guys immediately began to make jokes but the redhead simply ignored them.

"Yeah I'm dragging Rachel and Toni to the mall with me to hit a few sales." Karen said.

"I gotta work on my car man."

"Me and Roy volunteered at the local aquarium."

"I have to help my mom at the vet."

Richard sighed and said, "Guess that's a no." He turned to Kori but she'd already given him a pleading look.

"I can't. My mom and me are going shopping and put for dinner." She said and gave his hand an apologetic squeeze.

Richard nodded his head in an understanding way. He the took out his cellphone and quickly said, "Stay on alert though." They all nodded and went back to talking. Just then, Kitten walked up to them with Seychelle.

"Richard! I'm loving your hair!" Kitten said in a high pitched voice that made your ears bleed.

Everyone groaned and Richard rubbed his face in annoyance.

"Hey Roy, are you busy Saturday night?" Seychelles asked. She batter her long eyelashes flirtatiously at him.

Jade stood up abruptly and got in her face. "Actually he's helping me with some homework. Sorry." She gave a quick smile and crossed her arms.

Seychelle flipped her curly hair and smoothed out her blue dress. "Oh, how cute. See, Um, last time I checked, you two were not together anymore."

"Oh no she didn't." Karen cut in, her protective best friend mode kicking in.

"Oh yes she did, thank you!" Kitten screeched.

Bad choice Kitten.

"Uh-oh..." Gar said as he hid behind Rachel, who was totally oblivious to the scene.

Karen shot up faster than you could say shot. "OH HELL NAW! I KNOW YOU'RE PRISSY ASS AIN'T TALKING TO ME!"

Kitten cowered as Vic and Toni held Karen back. Mrs. Carter stood up and walked over to the scene cautiously. The whole class was now focused on what was happening in front of them.

"Okay ladies," Mrs. Carter put a hand on both Karen and Kitten's shoulders for comfort. "Enough with the trash talking. Lets go back to our desks."

Karen let out a huge breath and forced herself not to rip Kitten's fake blonde hair out. Seychelle and Kitten, after tossing a wink and smile to Richard and Roy, strutted back to their desks. Soon, the whole group dispersed back to their desks.

"I so do not get paid enough for this." Mrs. Carter mumbled as she walked back to her desk.

No, no you don't teachers of America.

TT

EleXir jumped the roofs of downtown Jump City. She expertly dodged all the obstacles that tried to take her down. It was around 10 pm and by now, everyone was safely inside their houses.

EleXir was on her way to the electronic shop to get (more like steal) some sort of device for Slade. She stopped on a tall apartment roof to catch her breath and she adjusted her ponytail along with her mask. Just as she was about to begin her mission, a voice stopped her.

"I suggest you stop right there or you can suffer the consequences." Robin demanded, the teen titans behind him ready for battle.

EleXir cringed and mentally cursed herself. She also put in thought to give Robin some better sayings when her approaches a villain.

Slowly, she turned around and stood her ground. She couldn't bare to look them In the face and was thankful for her mask. She swiped out her two knives and got into fighting stance. 'Very good my dear.' She heard Slade's words very clearly and grimaced.

'Im sorry guys.' Jade thought just enforce she leaped high in the air and began her battle.

First she was met by Robin's Bo staff. He swung at her with swift motions but didn't manage to hit her once. She blocked all of his attacks with her knives and finished him off with a hard kick to the chest. He was sent flying and hit an air conditioning vent.

Starfire was next as he launched an array of green starbolts at the person who dared to hurt her boyfriend. EleXirik frowned as she dodged all of her attacks and took out her long whip. 'Im so sorry Kori.' She could feel tears coming into her eyes as she lashed the whip around Starfire's stomach.

"AGH!" Starfire let out a cry of pain at the leather hit her stomach and wrapped around her. EleXir pulled the whip hard and Starfire came flying down into the ground.

Raven and Beastboy charged for EleXir in anger. Raven formed a giant black hand and smashed EleXir into the ground. The villain yelped in pain and quickly back flipped out of it. She sent out a gigantic Red X that plastered Raven to the large air conditioning vent. Raven growled in frustration as she tried so hard to get out of the trap.

Beastboy formed into a gorilla and charged for EleXir. She ran towards him and did a front flip over him. He began to lash out at her but like the others, he barely got a hit in. She took her whip out and started to strike him with the smooth leather.

BB sent out cry of pains and backed away from her. She couldn't bare the sight of him in fear of giving up.

"Beastboy!" Argent yelled in concern. She ran towards EleXir and launched her red plasmic energy balls at her. One hit her in the shoulder and nearly burned off some of her clothing. EleXir busied herself by aiding her shoulder and hardly notice Jinx running towards her.

Jinx kicked her in the side and sent her hexbolts at her. "This is for my shoulder!" She punched her in the face and EleXir felt a tear run down her face. Her best friend was on top of her beating her. Never did she ever think this day would come.

'FIGHT!' Slade yelled into her ear. EleXir squeezed her eyes shut and formed a fist. She brought back her hand and punched Jinx right square in the jaw. Jinx fell to the ground in pain.

Kidflash and Bumblebee immediately went to her side to aid her. Stone began to charge at her and she simple threw a red X ball towards him. It exploded and plastered him to the ground. He struggled to get out of the goo but failed miserably.

Lastly was Speedy. When he face her, she nearly froze.

Her Roy was ready to battle her. She knew she had to but she couldn't do it. The wind blew their hair and it seemed they were the only two people left on earth. She felt the tears run down her cheeks. She couldn't do it. Not to him.

"No." She mumbled. "No more."

'What are you doing!' Slade yelled. 'FIGHT!'

"Kiss my ass." She took the earpiece out and smashed it on the ground.

She knew her next move was going to be the best/worst move in her life. But she couldn't turn against her friends. She couldn't betray them and hurt them anymore. She let down her hair, and pulled her mask off.