Corey was shaking me frantically, “Syd! Syd! Wake up!” I groaned and opened my eyes to see our entire lair was trashed and I was on the kitanda with Corey kneeling on the floor inayofuata to me. “Corey? What happened?” He looked at me; his face was stained with dried tears. “They…. They took them.” I didn’t understand. “What? Who took who?” He slowly stood up and sat on the kitanda inayofuata to me. “Blade and the others…. They took our team and Aqualad’s team.” He said, with obvious hate toward Blade. “I think I know where.” I said, starting to devise a plan, but then stopping myself. “Corey… What EXACTLY happened after I left?” He looked down, “You came back in. But it wasn’t you, it was-“ “Copycat.” I finished. He nodded, “Yeah, and I guess Blade was still blocking our powers... So the not-you started to attack us! And, everyone was K.O-ed within a few minutes. Including me. But I guess Blade’s power shut down au something because I seemed to have phased through the floor into the basement.” He alisema timidly. I was still confused, “And how did wewe get me?” I asked. “Well, when I woke up I ran outside because I wanted to find wewe guys. And Blade and one of the guard people were dragging wewe off. So I saved you.” “So, where’s Blade now?” I asked. Corey smiled really big, “Tied up and unconscious in Rae’s bedroom.” He alisema proudly. “Corey!” I shouted, and jumped off the kitanda and ran to Rae’s room at the end of the hall.

I slammed the door open to Rae’s room. Only to find Blade sitting on the bed, a ball of rope on the ground, and him just fiddling around with his hands. When he noticed me staring at him from the doorway he stood up, “Sydney, I-I swear… I never wanted wewe to get hurt that bad. Promise, kuvuka, msalaba my moyo and hope to die.” I just stood there, fuming. Quickly and without thinking I slapped him, “I probably deserved that.” He said, rubbing the side of his face. I stared into his eyes, and a smile slowly formed on my face, “Shut up.” I quietly whispered, he leaned in and we slowly brushed our lips against each other. I pushed away and blushed, and then shook my head and went back to what was really important. “Chase, wewe really need to sort out your priorities! Which side are wewe on? Because if wewe say the Seekers, I will legit kick your butt all the way to Alaska!” He laughed a little, but quickly became serious, “Syd, I just want to say… I’m sorry for everything I’ve alisema au done to hurt wewe au your friends, and I’m now on your side 100%” He took my hand gingerly, but I pulled away. “You’re going to need to prove it. wewe ARE going to onyesha us where my Marafiki are, and wewe ARE going to help us get them. Got it?” I said, zaidi as an order than a request. He nodded faintly, we both ran out of the room and back to the lounge. When Corey saw Blade he immediately jumped up into a fighting stance. “Down, doggy.” I said. He gave me a confused look. “He alisema he would help.” I reassured him. Corey gave a half-growl, “Fine, but if this is a trap au if anything goes wrong, I will just who to blame.” I had never seen Corey this serious before, and it kind of scared me.


The only way we were going to be able to be able to find our friends, according to Blade, was to travel about 20 miles out of Gotham to a small town called Centra. In order to get there though, was to dig out our really old motorcycles. But I had to modify the engines first. While tightening one of the bolts my hand slipped and I cut it against a piece of metal. “Ow! Crap...” I mumbled. “Need a little help, there?” I turned around to see Blade standing in the doorway of our basement, where I was. “A first aid kit would be nice.” I said, standing up and holding my bleeding hand. “Doesn’t it hurt?” He asked, slowly grabbing my hand. I cringed, “Not a lot of things hurt me anymore.” He chuckled quietly, and pulled me out of the room and back up the stairs. Before he could even get completely up to the floor, Corey rammed him against the wall.
“What did wewe do to her?!” Corey snarled. Blade struggled, but it wasn’t helping. “Nothing!” He managed to say. “Corey! Get off him! Now!” I shouted, but he wasn’t listening. “Corey Mathew Hess! wewe get off Blade right now!” He stopped and looked at me. Then slowly he let go of Blade and walked back to the couch. Blade took a step away from the wall, rubbing his shoulder. “Sorry about that. Can wewe go get something for my hand?” I asked him. It was starting to burn, and covering it with my other good hand wasn’t going to keep the blood from flowing out. Blade nodded, and with a sharp glance at Corey, ran out of the room. “Corey? wewe ok?” I asked quietly, walking over to the couch. He just stared down. “Listen, I know what it feels like having your Marafiki lives threatened, but wewe just have to trust me that-“
“No, wewe DON’T understand!”
“What?”
“You don’t understand what it feels like to have everyone wewe know and upendo taken from you!”
“Yes, I do.”
“No, wewe don’t! wewe never knew your family, they are all dead!”
I bit my lip and looked down. “Corey, I may not have had a blood-family like you, but I do have a family. It’s you, and Ryder, and Rae, and surprisingly enough Blade.” Corey busted out into a violent sob, and I pulled him close in a hug.
Blade walked in, holding a large Band-Aid. “I have a feeling I missed something.” He alisema slowly. I laughed, “Just fix my hand please.” He smiled and walked over to me, wrapping it around the cut several times.