Sparks Fly [Book Two in the "Fire And Lighting" Series]

Chapter Twenty-Six- Music

Mal pulled out his phone, and used it to scan the debris field. Then, he spotted her.

Out on the water.

"Stay here!" He warned, tossing me his jacket. Then he dove into the tumultuous waves.

I ran as close as I dared to the edge of the water, watching Mal swim out to Sphere. There were three figures lying across her, two black and one  white. My goggles zoomed in. Superboy, Wolf, and Nightwing.

But where was everyone else?

Mal swam back carrying Nightwing, and Connor carried Wolf.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh," I gasped, checking for vitals on Nightwing and Wolf.

"Where's Sphere?" I asked Connor when I had confirmed that they were out of danger.

"She folded up to heal. We caught caught in the debris field when the explosion happened. Are you okay?" Connor asked, tucking a bit of hair behind my ear.

"You're asking me if I'm okay and you just got caught in an explosion!?" I yelled. I would have yelled more, but Connor cut me off with a kiss.

"Hey," he whispered, holding both sides of my face, "It's okay. We're fine. Everyone's okay. It's gonna be alright." He pulled me close, in a tight embrace, rocking me back and forth.

Behind us, Nightwing coughed and sat up.

"What happened?" Mal asked, placing a firm hand on his back. "Where's everyone else?"

Nightwing coughed up more waters, "Aqualad...captured...bomb..."

Connor held me tighter, and Mal's face hardened the mention of Aqualad.

I knew he was a double-agent, but that didn't make me any less scared of him. He had just blown up the freaking mountain! Our home! I held the angel-doll closer, if I clutched it any tighter I'm sure it would have broken.

"Nightwing took a few deep breaths and continued. "Aqualad attacked the cave. He took seven hostages, and left behind the same type of bomb that destroyed Malina Island."

Mal and I looked at each other. "What seven hostages?"

Nightwing sighed sadly. "Brass Beetle, Blue Beetle, Blur, Impulse, Beast Girl, Beast Boy, and Nightingale."

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I kept the angel doll tucked under my arm as we sorted out what few things we could savage from the ruins Mount Justice.

Connor squeezed Rachel's favorite baseball cap, the one from the world premiere of "Phantom Menace", as an effort to distract me from noticing how he tucked the old case that once held his shields in his pocket. We were both so downhearted, I let it slide.

"Is this it?" Cassie asked sadly, observing the small pile of anything and everything we could salvage.

What was left of the team was in the process of gathering at the Hall of Justice, which would, until further notice, serve as the team's new base of operations.

"Yeah." Robin said sadly, a perpetual frown etched on his lips.

Cassie turned to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Robin, in turn, had his arm around Finch. The poor girl had cried herself to sleep, and after the loss of her three friends and her big sister, that was understandable. But she had made the four of us promise to never tell anyone else. Finch wanted to live up to the stoic guise of Batman and his trainees.

I sighed, and leaned my head on Connor's shoulder, tired beyond anything. But I wanted to help. We had to come up with a plan to save the others, to save our teammates, to save our friends.