Okay, ya'll are gonna either love me or hate me for this next chapter, just bear with me, though.

2.

Titans Tower

August 24

21:48 UTC

Sitting quietly on her side of the bed, M'gann held Carter as he slept. He took on the same skin tone of his blanket and was a shade of pastel blue, occasionally smacking his lips while snuggling closer to his her, seeking warmth as he slumbered. She was still down at what Garfield had told her, his words played over and over in her head along with the face he made, somewhere between human and beast. She found she lacked the emotion to cry as well as anger for what he said, she was caught somewhere in the middle of the list of possible feelings she would normally have and just felt numb.

Entering the room with the door sliding open, Conner did not say a word as he centered his vision on his wife. The last time he saw her in a similar state like this was the day after they had broken up. It hurt him then and it hurt him now. Kicking off his boots and taking off his shirt, he slid into bed and scooted close beside her. She did not move a muscle, only continued to stare at their sleeping son.

"I finished talking to Garfield," he started after a moment. "He knows what he did. He, explained what had happened in the limo with Queen Bee. He also told me she was all he could think about since they fought Croc in the city. He then told me he was sorry for what he said and how he didn't mean it. I let him get something to eat and had him go back to his room for the night. He is sorry, M'gann."

"Conner," she whispered. "you have no idea how much that hurt. I only wanted to protect him, to make sure he was safe, especially from Bee."

"I know."

"I stayed up with him through the nights he couldn't sleep. I was there for him when he said he had no other family. I never wanted, or thought about taking Marie's place, but when he said that, I, I felt as if that's how he sees me. That I'm trying to take her place instead of being there for him. I Don't want that, Conner. I just wanted to be there for him and..."

She began to tear up, something she had not done since arriving in Palo Alto to pick up Carter. Reaching over, Conner wrapped an arm around her and brought her close, allowing her to softly sob on his shoulder.

"It hurt," M'gann told him. "He broke my heart when he said that."

"He didn't mean it."

"But he still said it."

With his head resting on hers, Conner rubbed is cheek on her hair before kissing the spot. "Get some rest. I'll put Carter in his crib. You and Garfield will be better in the morning."

"Just a little more." She gently rocked her child to keep him asleep. "I just want to hold him for a bit more."

Not having anything else to add, Conner replaced his cheek on her head and silently watched their son sleep.

Mount Justice

August 25

00:02 UTC

Being the only one left in the cave, Kaldur had decided to sleep on the couch in his room. With only a pillow and a throw blanket, he was somewhere between awake and asleep when his phone buzzed under his hand.

Waking, the Atlantean checked his cell and saw Roy's picture illuminated by the backlight of the screen. Sitting up, he slid the answer circle to the side and let out a yawn before addressing the caller.

"Kaldur here. Been waiting for you to call me back, my friend." After scratching his head, the black ops leader popped his neck.

"Well I just got back. Been out of the country for the past couple of days." As Roy spoke, Kaldur could hear the sounds of heavy bags hitting the floor.

"What do you mean the last few days? I thought you had checked in on Lilith."

"Not unless you spoke to the original Harper and got him to do it. Jade and I have been in Thailand."

"When last I spoke to her," Kaldur said while moving to the edge of his seat, she mentioned someone not letting her live her life, another person. I thought it was you."

"Maybe it was someone else on your team. But I haven't been here until a few hours ago. I just walked into my apartment."

"I have not informed anyone else where she lives." A cold chill ran across Kaldur's skin at that moment. "I will call you back."

Happy Harbor

August 25

0:14 UTC

Arriving at the apartment building Lilith resided in, Kaldur parked his motercycle on the sidewalk, ignoring the probability of it being spotted by a cop and being towed. No sooner had he climbed the steps when a loud explosion ripped the side of the building off some several floors above.

"Lilith." Knowing the damage was from her apartment, Kaldur unzipped his jacket and pulled his water bearers out while heading for the nearest fire hydrant.

Having his weapons form into swords, he sliced through the metal housing the pressured water and used it to form a solid platform to ride to where the Brazilian woman's apartment was. It only took a few seconds for him to enter through the large hole in the side of the building and see a disaster area as sheetrock, glass, wood, and broken furniture littered the hall. Brick crumbled outside, falling to the street below as people could be heard yelling as they came out to see what was happening.

"Lilith!" Kicking the door to her bedroom open, Kaldur had his weapons at the ready incase he may need to defend himself or the woman he took responsibility for.

"Lilith!" Making his way through the room, he checked the bathroom when he heard his name being called from down the hall. "Lilith!"

Entering the living room, he narrowly avoided being impaled by a hand held sickle. The curved weapon embedded itself in the wall meaning it was thrown with enough force to easily cut through his body.

"A little late to the party, boyo," Banshee said in her thick Irish accent. "Didn't expect for anyone to come this soon."

"Where is she!" Forming the left water construct into a shield, Kaldur charged forward and took a swipe at the black and white woman who dodged it at the last instant.

Floating a bit of the ground, Banshee held out her hands and displayed her sharpened fingernails. With a hiss, she flew forward and landed a hard kick to Kaldur's shoulder, nearly knocking his shield from his hand. She followed that up with a few swipes at his face but was blocked as she forced him back, finishing up with a swipe from her deadly, sharpened locks to change the direction he was heading in. With the Atlantean nearing the outside wall, Banshee inhaled and unleashed a powerful shriek, pushing him into the barrier and through it faster than he could move.

Feeling his body grow weightless, the black ops leader had his sword construct change into a whip and flung it at the building's rooftop. He heard the laugh of Banshee as she came flying out, curving upwards to land on the roof herself.

"Come on, deary," she goaded him as she planted one foot on the ledge to lean over. "You want the girl? You know what you have to do."

Hearing her let out another laugh, Kaldur gritted his teeth and braced his feet on the brick. He then leap upwards, turning his water bearers into objects resembling icepicks to hoist himself up to the roof. It was a hard climb, considering time was of the essence, but with Lilith's life on the line, he could not falter for anything.

Arriving on the roof of the building, Kaldur rolled over the ledge and landed in a low standing position with his weapons forming into swords again. The first one he saw was Banshee as she stood in the center of the rooftop, She snickered before moving to the side to show the Atlantean Lilith on her knees with her hands tied behind her back.

Gasping slightly, Kaldur let out a growl as he ran forward and attacked Banshee to save the captured woman who was struggling to get free.

"Kaulder, look out!"

Lilith's words came just in time as he managed to block another thrown sickle aimed for his ribs. Backing away from Lilith, he turned to see Scarecrow pulling the remainder of his main sickle weapon out of his mouth. The straw man's eyes lit up a bright yellow with a mist escaping them as a smile crept up on his mostly featureless face.

With the two blood cult soldiers taking positions on ether side of him, Kaldur kept his arms up with his weapons out to create distance as he moved with the two. Scarecrow attacked first, using his sickle to take a swipe at the Atlantean who blocked it and took a swipe back. He was caught from behind by Banshee who sliced into his skin with her sharpened nails. Blood fell on the rooftop with his white shirt's back turning a dark shade of red from the open wound. His jacket was discarded, mostly due to it being cut in two from the attack.

Changing tactics, the Atlantean dashed over to Lilith, making Scarecrow move to cut him off. His plan worked perfectly as the master of fear attempted to slice off his legs with Banshee coming up behind him. Leaping over the sickle attack, Kaldur flipped through the air and slashed at the flying woman, making her shout in pain from being hit and backed off to regain herself.

Standing with Lilith at his back and the two cultists before him, Kaldur kept is weapons out as his eyes darted from one to the other. This time, Banshee struck first, setting him up for Scarecrow to come in and land a hard shot to Kaldur's face with the end of his weapon. The attack did not stop there as the curved blade came down on him, barely being blocked by his water swords with the sharpened tip scraping his forehead.

As blood poured into his eye, another sharp pain shot across his back and shoulders as Banshee dug her claws into his flesh. Shouting, Kaldur maneuvered his weapons to knock Scarecrow's sickle away and attack the woman behind him when he felt something imbed itself into is right arm.

Hearing the sound of his water bearer hit the ground, Kaldur let out another yell as he discharged an electric shock from his body, the sickle Scarecrow fought with to pull out of his bicep with the inhuman creature falling back. Another shriek from Banshee knocked him off his feet and forced him to land before Lilith.

With blood pouring from his wounds, Kaldur weakly got to his knees with his arms barely supporting him up. Ragged breaths joined the dripping sounds of his blood as he fought to stay conscious.

"K, Kaldur."

Looking up, he saw Lilith with a terrified look on her face. Her lips quivered and tears streamed down her face. The nightgown she wore was shredded from being grabbed by Banshee with a few bruises and light cuts on her legs, arms, and face.

Swallowing, Kaldur continued to breathe heavily when his face turned from a concerned look at Lilith to an apologetic one before contorting to show pure rage. Grabbing his remaining water bearer, Kaldur had it morph into a serrated whip and let out a defiant yell as he turned to attack the two supervillains.

The long water whip cut through the air as electricity coursed though it, barely missing Scarecrow while Banshee flew upwards. With his attention on the fear maker, Kaldur morphed his weapon into a trident and blocked an incoming sickle attack. He was then hit from behind as Banshee took advantage of the distraction, causing him to nearly fall to his knees.

Staying up, he morphed his weapon into the whip again and caught the flying woman by the foot, delivering a massive shock and bringing her down hard. he then barely managed to block another attack by Scarecrow then morphed his whip into a sword to slice the creature's arm off, sending the weapon skittering across the roof. That did not stop the strawman as he created another arm with a pair of small sickles in hand. He grabbed the extra one in his other hand and furiously took swipe after swipe at the black ops leader until knocking the last remaining water bearer out of his hand and slicing Kaldur's chest in an 'X' pattern.

As Kaulder turned away from the hit, he was stopped suddenly by a sharp pain in his stomach. His eyes bulged and mouth dropped open, letting spittle and blood fly through the air.

"Kaldur!" Lilith yelled as she saw her would be savior begin to grow limp.

As Kaldur's head sank, the face of Brother Blood came into view. Red eyes glowed brightly as he stared down at the fallen hero. "Your soul belongs to me now."

As the last of Kaldur's life left him, he saw the three pronged dagger used to take the life of others glow brightly as it absorbed a light from is body. Raising a foot, Brother Blood kicked Kaldur's body away and lifted the blade before his face.

"The smart fool. The good within evil. The celebrator of life through movement. They will soon be joined by the one with sight through touch. This pathetic mortal foolishly gave his life for you woman. But it was all in vain. Trigon will rise. And with him will be a new army to enslave mankind to feed him their souls."

Moving forward, Scarecrow picked up the struggling Lilith who was trying to get to Kaldur. It was useless as she was easily picked up and brought to Brother Blood with Banshee landing at his side. A bright light lit up the darkness and as it faded out, the ones present vanished as well.

Titan Tower

August 25

01:36 UTC

Moonlight shone through the large windows of the tower's living area. Everything was still and quiet as the digital clock over the entrance displayed the time, one thirty-seven AM. Each of the Team member's rooms were shut as they slept with Wolf occupying the floor of the computer room and Sphere in her terminal near the sleeping animal. Monitors displaying the tower's security measures shown everything was normal inside and outside. The door then closed shut and locked.

Outside, over the horizon of Jump City, a pair of black silhouettes floated along the cool wind currents. Large, triangular canvas wings caught the air to support the two individuals currently making their way over the water and to the top of the tower.

Landing silently, the two pairs of feet swiftly moved to the edge of the building, shedding their black clothing and dumping the fabric coverings as quickly as they moved. Taking out a handheld drill each, they created holes on the tower's ledge and quickly attached a clamp with a rope attachment to the handles of the drills, which stayed embedded in the cement.

Using hand signals, one of the figures motioned for the other one to follow close behind. With a light hop, the first suspended themselves over the ledge with the second following suit. Silently, they descended to the large windows, searching the interior with night vision goggles before carrying out their next phase.

The first of the two took out a glass cutter and hand-sized suction cup. The other pulled out the same gear and both proceeded in slicing thorough the transparent barrier. Once a large enough hole was created, they used the suction cups to make sure the pane would not fall inwards and carefully pulled it out, dropping the cups and glass to the floor far below.

Just as silent as they had landed outside, both figures landed on the carpet and looked around the large living area/kitchen. With no threats present, the two made their way into the hallway, puling out rubber triangle pieces and attaching them to the doors of the sleeping Titans. Once that was taken care of, they carefully made their way to the room of the leaders and pried the lock box for the door open. The first attached a pair of small clamps in the motherboard for the mechanism with the ends feeding back into a device in their hand. A few keystrokes later, and the door slowly slid open. Not a sound was made with the speed it traveled.

After an agonizing two minutes of waiting, the two carefully entered the room of the sleeping Kryptonian and Martian. Seeing as how the green skinned woman was snuggled up close to her lover, the two intruders made their way to their objective.

Splitting up for the time being, the first pulled a bottle from a belt pouch along with a rag inside. The other planted a device over the the door and palmed a remote in one hand. Looking back at the first, the second saw them slip something into a bag and fit it over their back. A nod told the other they were good to go when they heard the sound of sheets and a body shift.

Adjusting himself to get more comfortable, Conner rolled is shoulders when he felt his pillow fall off the side of the bed. Drowsily opening his eyes, he carefully removed his arm from around his wife and moved to retrieve the head support when he saw the two figures standing across the room.

Without hesitation, the superstrong Titan leader leapt out of bed, his wife's name being called out to rouse her from her sleep just as the two intruders got into fighting position as Conner ran to block the door from them to escape through.

"Lights!" On M'gann's orders, the bedroom lit up brightly, temporarily blinding all four with the other two individuals ripping their goggles off.

Not being blinded by extreme lights, the two leaders caught sight of who they were dealing with. Both of the intruders were female with masks covering most of their faces. The first of which was dressed all in black with silver metallic piping forming a jagged pattern on her torso and chest. A loose fitting belt loaded with various throwing blades draped down the top of her left hip to midway down her right with a few of the weapons missing. A high collar from her midriff bearing top, which had a dark gray material covering her abdomen, protected her neck where a covering blocked her face from just below her eyes down to to her neck, leaving her blue eyes and short brown hair exposed.

The second was dressed in a familiar blue and black outfit with what looked like chainmail covering her arms, sides of her body, and the outside of her thighs. Orange gloves matched her belt and half of her mask where a large white eye reflected the room and occupants around her and the black side remaining blank. Twin tails from where she tied her face covering snaked down the right side of her neck, ending just above her beast. The only part of her not covered was the bottom half of her face with silver hair coming down to cover her neck.

"Conner, the baby!"

Hearing M'gann's voice in his head, Conner shot forward first, intent on getting to their son. He was sidestepped by the black clad woman and met with a knee to the face from the second, not that it did any damage. Behind him, M'gann shifted her bottom underneath her shirt to a pair of pants as she flew at the intruders with her eyes shimmering brightly. In the short time it took for her to jump out of bed and reach the first female, she attempted to knock them both out with a psychic blast. It was immediately rebuffed as the two were protected somehow, forcing her to go hand to hand. She was met with a spinning roundhouse to the face but landed on her feet. The black clad woman then held her arms to her sides, activating a set of long twin slicing blades on one hand and a set of three serrated blades on the other. They then began to glow red and generated a high degree of heat.

With M'gann engaged with the black clad woman, Conner dealt with the two toned intruder who was showing to be an extremely talented fighter. She managed to dodge his attacks and flip off of walls to land several shots to his face. Something was in her gloves to add power to her hits, but her feet had taken on metal coverings to protect them from the kicks she would land.

Rolling behind the male leader, the two toned woman stood with her legs open and motioned with her hands. "Come on, big boy. You want the brat? You know what to do." A slick smile formed on her red lips as she waited for his response.

Growling, Conner dashed forward with his fist cocked back, changing his attack up into a front kick at the last second, only for the woman to slide between his legs and slap him on the back. Before he could turn around, a high pitched beep sounded and he was violently shoved forward from an explosion on his back, crashing through the wall connecting Carter's room to theirs.

Landing on his front, Conner shook his head as he got up and noticed pieces of broken crib around him. Panic sunk in as he thought he had landed on his son and may have injured him. Scrambling to his feet, he checked around him and saw the small Krypto-Martian was nowhere to be found when he heard M'gann grunt from a hard hit with the woman she was fighting facing him.

"Where is he?!" Charging at her, Conner brought back his fist and was just about to connect with the woman when she turned her back to him and showed Carter strapped into a tightly wrapped bundle mounted on her back.

Stopping himself, Conner managed to pull back when a hand gripped his shoulder and spun him around. He had no time to react when he felt a pain in his stomach as something sliced across it. Falling to his knees, Conner looked down to where he placed his hands over his abdomen and slowly moved them away. A long streak of blood stained his hands and arms as more of the crimson liquid flowed out from a slice across his torso. He then began to feel weak as a pain coursed through his being.

"Like my toy?" the two toned woman asked. "It really likes you."

Holding a green bladed katana sword, the woman twirled it around and smugly scoffed as she made sure he got a good look at it. "Kryptonite blade. Quite beautiful in it's appearance. Deadly in its usage."

Winding up, the woman delivered a hard roundhouse kick to Conner's face. Combined with the enhancement to her boot and the effect of the Kryptonite blade, she was able to knock him to the side.

"Scandal, time to go. We have a schedule to keep." Keeping the glowing sword drawn, the two toned woman backed out of the room, which had grown increasingly warmer.

"Later, green bean." Tossing a coaster-sized device near M'gann, the one known as Scandal sheathed her forearm blades back in their housings. The object she dropped generated an intense amount of heat to keep the Martian woman down.

Reaching the door first, the two toned woman made sure the two stayed down with Scandal moving behind her. With the first woman out of the bedroom, Scandal turned to join her when she felt her body suddenly stop and grow stiff.

"Give...me back my...baby." M'gann barely said as she fought through the heat, which weakened her.

"Ravager," Scandal called, "detonate!"

Taking a remote from a pouch in her belt, the two toned woman called Ravager, switched on the device planted above the Titan leader's door. Beside her, Garfield's bedroom door shook as he tried to get out. Keeping him from doing so was the rubber stopper she and Scandal planted on the way in.

Making his way over to M'gann, Conner smashed the heat generating device, allowing her to regain her strength as he got back to his feet. A moment after Scandal called for her partner, a high pitched shriek erupted from the device over the door, bringing them down fast from the pain it caused. Both let out cries of pain as they covered their ears while Scandal and Ravager made their way down the hall, passing the shaking doors of the other Titans as well as the shut door to the computer room where Wolf was frantically scratching on it from the other side and Sphere beeped wildly.

Exiting their room, Conner, who had smashed the sound emitting device, and M'gann rushed past the doors of the other Titans who were using their powers to get free. Garfield had morphed into a snake to slither through the narrow opening and enter the hallway. Raven used her majicks to cover her door in black energy to roughly shove it to the side. Terra's door bent outwards with the lower corner bending upwards from the usage of several fist sized stones striking it. It was something she started doing since the nightmare her and the others shared as a precaution to have something she could use her powers with.

Entering the trophy room, Ravager and Scandal quickly reached one of the shelves in the far right corner of the room. Behind the latter, Carter began to stir and started to cry, making her roll her eyes at having the hybrid child make so much noise.

"I thought you shut that thing up for the night," Ravager said as she reached for one of the trophies.

"Stupid chloroform wasn't enough for the brat," Scandal explained. "I gave it enough to sleep for hours. How was I supposed to know this thing would be tolerant to it?"

"Just be ready to hold them off if this thing Luthor gave us doesn't work."

Taking another device from a belt pouch, Ravager attached it to Control Freak's remote the heroes had claimed and fired a stream of energy at the wall. A Boom Tube opened up just as M'gann and Conner rounded the corner.

"Stop!" M'gann shouted as she attempted to use her telekinesis to grab her son while Conner dove at the the two intruders.

Her words and his actions did not mean anything as Ravager and Scandal leapt through the portal with Carter and vanished a moment before it closed. Crashing onto the floor, Conner created a dent in the wall from where he hit and got up on all fours, only to see the Boom Tube was no more. As for Control Freak's remote, it sorted out from the device attached to its front and smoked as it lay on the ground.

"No. Carter!" M'gann yelled once her son was gone.

"Get the League!" Conner ordered as he ran back out of the room just as the others were arriving.

"What happened?" Terra asked.

"They took Carter!" M'gann said in a panic as she rushed to the computer room and opened the door to gain entrance while Wolf and Sphere came out.

Grabbing the emergency line connected to the Justice League's private line, M'gann pressed the red button beneath the receiver. "I need everyone available! We, we had a break in at the tower! We need help now!"

"M'gann," Garfield said once he caught up with her, "what happened?"

Speaking to him and into the emergency line, she yelled, "They took my son!"

Arriving in the living area, Conner rushed to the Zeta platform when he stopped once he saw the large piece of window missing. With a growl, she leapt over the couch and ran to the opening to investigate how the two women had broken in. Ropes gently flapped in the wind as he stuck his head out, ignoring the dull pain he felt in his stomach, which was healing from being away from the Kryptonite weapon. Flying outside, he rose above the roof and landed near where the ropes were connected. He then saw a pair of hang-gliders resting a few meter nearby then turned to look at the city some distance away.

Breathing hard, not from exerting himself but from the anger he felt, Conner ran his hands through his hair then balled them up so tight, his fingers popped. His entire body shook from what he felt and, as if to let the world know his pain and anger, he let out a deep roar that scared the sleeping animals on the small island.