When your boyfriend (okay, someone who's almost my boyfriend) asks you go help him, you do it. Duh. So Kid Flash asked me for help, I was excited because he rarely ever needs help. It couldn't possibly be about school ("Jinx, I'm a sixteen-year-old with a genius level intelligence. Do you really think I'd need help from a girl who needs help in Biology? No offense, sweetie"), a villain ("I'm a professional hero, Jinx. Some of us heroes don't need a sidekick or a team") or a contact to the shady world of villains ("I refuse to work with them. I'm sorry, Jinx, but my sense of justice is so strong, I might have to marry her to make it seem right. I mean, that is, if you won't marry me"). This pretty much took out all possible options that he might even need help. So I went.
It was nothing like I expected. I had been hoping for "planning a surprise birthday party" (surprisingly good at those – at least, Bumblebee seemed pleased), not what I had to actually do.
.
"So, where are we going?" I ask, the words feeling familiar. With Kid Flash, going anywhere is possible, and you must always be prepared. Like the Girl Scouts.
"My friend and I were … planning something. But it's kind of a three-person thing. I mean excluding the – you know what? You'll find out." He grins. We walk (still don't want to try him carrying me as he runs) up to Titans Tower. It is eerily quiet, and I tell him so.
"It's eerily quiet."
"It should be. We cleared everyone else out for fear of injuring someone." He walks ahead, ignoring my annoyed looks of impatience. He presses his hand to a pad and the doors slide open. As soon as we arrive into the main room of their tower, I stumble in shock.
Is that Robin?
Yes, it is. The Boy Wonder is tied up to a chair. Seriously. I thought the Bat taught him how to get out of these things. Then I see cuffs everywhere. Someone has also taken lots of belts (Raven's, I'm sure) and belted him to it. My eyes dart to a gloved hand that's securing another belt. I follow the hand to its owner.
"Hi Spe-" I begin, but he's already drawn back an arrow so fast that I would've thought it was Kid Flash, ready to shoot. And it looks like an impact arrow. Which I hear hurt a lot.
"What the -? I said get someone we could trust, not the leader of HIVE 5!" Speedy sounds furious.
"I'm not the leader anymore; I left the HIVE 5. And it was 6 before." I try to sound nonchalant. I can't be trusted?
"Relax!" Kid Flash comes up in front of me protectively. "We don't need her for much, anyway! And did you forget that memo I sent to everyone explaining?"
"Yeah, but I thought it was her pretending to be you!" Speedy relaxes, only by a little. I narrow my eyes.
"I could take you anyway." I say smugly. He tenses back up.
"She planned Bee's birthday party." Says Kid Flash.
"She made the goody bags?" asks Speedy, softening. Kid Flash nods. "I thought it was all a very nice touch, the streamers, the –"
"Stop it! We have a more serious matter. Remember?" Kid Flash points at Robin. Speedy shrugs, and offers me a hand. I take it.
"Why are we here and why is Robin tied up?" I ask, feeling out of the loop.
"Robin has a problem." Says Kid Flash. I thought I'd never hear those words. I shrug at him, like "what problems could the most paranoid teenager possibly have?"
"He won't admit he has a problem." Says Speedy. "And the first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one."
"I don't have a problem! Let me go!" shouts Robin, who somehow got rid of his gag (but not the belts).
"If you admit you have a problem, Robin, we can help you. You'll feel better. You'll stop seeing Sl-" Kid Flash stops abruptly when Speedy coughs loudly.
"Robin, we've brought you here to show you evidence of your problem." Speedy starts up a PowerPoint presentation. "Slide one. You bought a Mac." His first slide has a picture of a Mac. What's wrong with a Mac? Robin looks bored.
"So?" he asks.
"Why not Windows?" Speedy smirks like he's won already. Before Robin can say anything, Speedy continues, in love with his own voice. "Because you are so paranoid that you think someone will try to hack your computer with viruses. And everyone knows that the Mac can't be infected by 80% of Windows viruses. So there." He finishes, somewhat childishly. To be honest, I don't think Speedy is doing a very good job. In fact, he's convinced me to go buy a Mac. Robin gives him a "what are you, an idiot?" look.
"I knew I should've prepared the PowerPoint instead." mutters Kid Flash.
"Okay, moving on." Speedy flushes. "Slide 2." It's a picture of that fiery guy, Hot Spot, I think. But this is where I see what Speedy and Kid Flash have been talking about.
"Watch out! It's Madame Rouge!" I whirl around at Robin's warning, but realize that he's glaring at a picture of Hot Spot. Kid Flash and I exchange looks, mine asking "what the freak is he talking about?" and his saying "Speedy will explain everything because he loves his voice way too much". I blink at Speedy, engrossed in his PowerPoint now.
"Robin, it's Hot Spot. A Teen Titan." Speedy gives Robin the kind of look you (well, only Speedy) give blind people – pity, sadness and a touch of smugness, but it doesn't matter because they can't see you. "Before the battle with the Brotherhood of Evil, you went to his SOS, which is when Madame Rouge attacked. She's frozen. She's not coming back. You know who Hot Spot is. He's your friend!" Robin spits in his face. Speedy touches his hair self-consciously.
"IT'S MADAME ROUGE." Robin says, unexpectedly loudly. He sounds so convinced. "This doesn't prove I have a problem! And why is Jinx here? She's a vil-" Kid Flash shoves something in his mouth – Beast Boy's socks, I presume –, furious at him for almost calling me a villain. I don't really care. But his gesture is so caring and we share a look. This look is hearts all over. Speedy waves a hand in front of our eye contact.
"Robin," says Speedy, still giving him that blind-person-look, "you have a problem. And your friends can help you!" Robin spits Beast Boy's socks in his face. Speedy starts shouting, exasperated. "Robin, you think Hot Spot wants to kill you!"
"He does!" insists Robin. Whoa, paranoid.
"Robin, you think I want to kill you!"
"You worked for Brother Blood!"
"I was brainwashed!"
"That's not a valid excuse! You're probably still working for him now." Robin glares at Speedy. Speedy breathes in, and out slowly.
"Okay. Moving on. Again." He clicks his remote and a picture of a worm pops up. Is that Starfire's creepy pet? Actually, it looks kind of cute. In a slimy kind of way.
Robin shrieks. "That thing wants to eat me!"
Speedy sighs. "Okay. Intermission. We'll return in five." He stalks off to a bathroom, probably to fix his untouched hair.
.
When he comes back, he nods to Kid Flash, who nods back. Kid Flash takes me to a corner where Robin can't see, and gives me a mask with one eyehole. I grin. Now, this is my kind of thing. I hold the mask in front of my face.
Robin gasps and starts wriggling. Violently. I look nothing like Slade, but Robin apparently doesn't care, and starts to struggle out of his chair to try and kill me. I grin amusedly at Kid Flash. I whip off the mask, and he gasps.
"Slade is a woman?" Sheesh. "Wait that's Jinx, Robin." Is he talking to himself? "No, Robin, it's Slade! See the mask? Shut up, Robin, it's just Jinx. IT'S JINX! KILL HER!" He successfully knocks his chair over and is helpless.
Speedy, Kid Flash and I share amused looks. Speedy declares another intermission. Kid Flash excuses himself to go get "a bite to eat". More like a smorgasbord.
Speedy watches him speed away. "You know," he comments, "you and him have something special. Maybe you don't know, but he's been–"
"With a lot of girls?" I finish. He nods.
"So he told you the truth about the number of his … relationships? Interesting." I'm about to ask him more, but his cell phone rings.
"Hello? Mia!" I gag a little. Mia? "I know! I haven't seen you since summer camp. Sorry I haven't called – you what? No kidding! I know her! In fact, she's with me now. Cute little thing, pale skin and pink hair, right?" I look up, interestedly. What is Mia saying about me?
"What are you guys talking about?" I hiss. He rolls his eyes at me, exchanges a few more pleasantries, and snarls once. He says good-bye, then hangs up.
"You don't want to know." He says. Kid Flash comes back – too late for me to ask.
"Did you finish your PowerPoint?" asks Kid Flash. Speedy nods, defeated. Robin begins foaming at the mouth. Things are beginning to put itself together in my mind.
Kid Flash and Speedy muse about their next step to help their friend.
It's so obvious!
"He has rabies! It fits – the paranoia, the –"
"Slow down there, House." Kid Flash grins at me, and I grin back. Speedy rolls his eyes and cuts our eye contact again.
"You think so?" he pokes Robin with his foot, worried. "He might need shots or something." Robin laughs. Alarmed, we all look at him. Robin grins and wipes the foam off. Then he shrugs off the belts.
"I don't have a problem. I'm just being careful. I think my performance was quite good, don't you?" He smiles. We gape at him.
"I think Jinx could take a lesson from you." says Kid Flash, when he gets over the fact that Robin is sane and healthy. Robin grins.
"Speedy, you should've seen your face when you were talking about the Mac." Robin pulls out his Mac (where did that come from?) and peels off the sticker. It's a Windows! "Jinx. I'd like to say, 'good to see you', but considering the previous times we've ... interacted, I'll go with, 'you look well'." I smile at him. Kid Flash fidgets.
"Wait … if you don't want to kill me, then why did you drop that box full of bats in my room?" asks Speedy. I snicker, and he glares at me.
"You have to be prepared for everything. For instance, I always bring my utility belt with me everywhere, even in civvies. First lesson Batman taught me." We gather all of Raven's belts, and then turn around towards the doors.
Robin's right. You always have to be prepared for anything.
"Hi," says Red X. "I heard about the party. Am I too late?"
.
.
.
AN: NO, the ending was just what it is. Do not even dare to go any deeper cause there IS no deeper.
Okay, so I'm thinking about doing a multi-chapter story, something like a journal for Jinx. But not like a "oh today he bought me a can of Sprite it means he loves me!" kind, more like a journal entry that will begin as an entry, but will transition into a scene, like those one-shots I write. The thing that'll be different is that these scenes will be more on Jinx, not flinx.
.
That means more Mia, Holly, Dawn, whoever. I have a couple of scenes I haven't had the chance to do (that don't involve KF) and this will let me incorporate that.
.
Plus this possible multi-chapter journal-like story (maybe I'll adapt 3 ½ Minutes for this instead) will allow me to connect to another multi-chapter story. This multi-chapter story? I wrote it in my mind, and it's been there since February and it drove me to create a FanFiction. So yeah –feedback? (I am so, so, so sorry for anyone who had to suffer (or actually read) my wall of text, which is why I tried to break it up.)
Uhmm … I'm working on 3 ½ minutes. Really. Nothing secure yet though (but I DO have an idea which needs to undergo my extensive writing and editing process), cause it was only intended to be two chapters. I think the next chapter for it might be a journal-type. I guess. Explanation when that bridge comes!
This is a one-shot. There is no beyond for this story. Thanks for reading!