A loud explosion shook the cavern, sending a hail of pea sized debris and dirt falling from the roof.
"Remind me again why I quit the Hive and became a Titan." Jinx grumbled as she tried to shield herself from the falling detritus.
"Because you're too good to be a villain." Kid Flash shouted back as he systematically disarmed Slade's seemingly endless horde of robots. "Could you cast a back luck spell this way, babe; and take out some of the Slade-bots?"
Jinx clenched her teeth. "When I was a bad girl I had money …" She shot a hex to the right and took out a whole platoon of droids.
"You don't need money."
"Like hell I don't. I hate getting by on the crappy stipend Robin gives me. How the Hell do Raven and Starfire do it?"
"Maybe they're low maintenance?"
"I also had all the guys I could screw."
"You said I was better than any of them."
"You are." She smirked as she blasted to the left. "But I still miss them."
"No, you don't." He smiled back at her.
"OK, maybe I don't … but you know what I do miss? Being able to cut and run when outnumbered."
"Heroes don't run, babe."
"Which is why being a hero totally blows. No money, no booty calls and no retreating."
She took a shot at the last group. Unfortunately her aim was a little off and Wally caught the periphery of her back luck curse. As the Slade-bots short circuited Kid Flash slipped on a pool of lubricant that appeared out of nowhere and crashed into a wall. He fell and landed in a heap on the ground.
"Wally!"
Jinx ran to his side, jumping over the smoldering remains of the Slade-bots.
"Oh baby, tell me you're OK!" She shrieked as she knelt down next to him.
Kid Flash slowly opened his eyes. "I'm fine babe."
As she helped him get up he clutched his side. "Ow, maybe not … just give me a few minutes, I'll heal. Say, did we win?"
No sooner than she nodded that several doors burst open and an even larger horde of reinforcement bots appeared. Jinx reached for her Titans communicator.
"Jinx calling Robin!"
After what felt like a brief eternity Raven's face appeared on the communicator's screen.
"Robin and Starfire are busy fighting the Brotherhood of Evil. What do you want?"
"What do I want? I want help! Kid Flash is injured and Slade has us surrounded. Can't you and BB come help us?"
"We're busy with Brother Blood, and Cyborg is visiting Titans East. I'm afraid you guys are on your own."
"Didn't you hear what I said? Wally's injured. We can't fight anymore."
"Then retreat and." Raven's voice was drowned out by an explosion at her end. "and … go back to the Tower … I have to go … Raven out."
Jinx snapped her communicator shut. "Thanks for nothing, bitch. Wally! We're getting out of here. Raven's orders"
The Slade-bots lined up at attention and fell silent. Jinx looked into her lover's eyes. "Wally, I have a bad feeling about this."
As if on cue the robots parted, revealing Slade's grim figure.
"Surrender and I won't harm you, at least not very much."
Jinx grimaced. "Screw you, Slade."
Kid Flash was now on his feet. He scooped Jinx up bridal style.
"You think you can just run away … how precious. I have bad news for you; I have raised a class 7 containment field. You aren't going anywhere."
The hairs on the back of Jinx's neck stood on edge. She remembered the time when Kid Flash escaped from the Hive because Gizmo failed to build such a containment field. Robin had once told her to never underestimate Slade.
"We'll see about that." Kid Flash rebuked the one eyed villain. Still carrying Jinx in his arms he began to run in circles around the cavern. Slade chuckled "You will only tire, which will make your capture all that much easier."
Wally ran faster and faster. Jinx looked up at him as the cavern and its contents became a blur.
"Wally, what are you doing?"
"Getting us out of here."
"But how? He has us trapped in a level 7 …"
"Trust me, babe; I know what I'm doing."
Jinx watched as the cavern became more and more blurry. Then she gasped, as the cavern was suddenly gone, replaced by an amorphous landscape.
"Wally, what's going on?"
He grinned at her. "We're in the Speed Zone."
"The what?"
"We're in a new dimension, a dimension of speed."
"You mean we're not inside the cave?"
"That's right. We left that behind."
Jinx looked around with wary eyes. "Uh, can we get out of the 'speed zone'? It's making me nauseous."
He grinned. "Not here. We're halfway between the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy."
"What?" She shrieked.
"It's OK, I already turned around. We'll exit right into common room at the Tower."
Jinx tried to look forward, but all she saw were strange shapes and her stomach began to threaten to regurgitate her lunch. She closed her eyes.
"Just tell me when we're home."
Wally chuckled. "We're there, prepare to exit the Speed Zone, hang on; the ride might get a little bumpy."
Jinx wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and scrunched her eyes shut. She knew Wallace West all too well. When he said "a little bumpy" that meant "bumpy beyond reason." And she was right, as she suddenly felt like she was riding a wild bronco. She was about to curse when Wally shouted 'oh shit!". The next thing she knew they hit something, the speed zone vanished and she crashed into a wall.
-( - )-
"There's only one thing I hate more than a Krolotean." Artemis shouted as she reached back into her quiver for another arrow.
"What's that?" Kid Flash shouted back at her as he tried to approach the quickly overloading reactor.
"A whole room full of Kroloteans." She replied as her shot deployed an electrified net, which trapped and shocked over a dozen on the aliens. "How is that reactor coming along?"
"It isn't. There's a force field around the controls. I can't get to them."
"Can't you hotwire it? If this thing blows it's gonna take half of Singapore with it."
"I'm trying babe, it's the alien tech; I can't make heads or tails of it. Hang on, I think I got something."
The alien reactor, which buried 1000 meters below the city streets, had ten main fusion cores and a much smaller service core which was used for starting the other cores. As soon as Wally spoke one of the main cores went dark.
"One down, ten to go." He shouted.
The Kroloteans stopped shooting and began to flee, which meant one thing: impending doom. Artemis stored her bow and ran to her boyfriend's side.
"Show me what to do!"
The archeress was a quick study and the between the two of them the systematically shut down the cores. Wally's super speed was of no help as the shutdown process could not be rushed. Each time a core went dark she looked over her shoulder at the alien countdown timer. There was no time to spare. Finally, only the starter core was left. Victory seemed to be at hand.
Until a strange alien klaxon began to blare. Artemis stared in horror as a force field came online, trapping them next to the starter core.
"What's this?" She snapped at him.
"I think it's a containment field. It should contain the starter core's explosion. Singapore is safe."
"But we aren't! Wally, how are we gonna get out of here? That core is about to go critical!"
Wally touched the force field. "I can't phase through it."
Artemis stared at him in shock. "You mean … we're gonna die?"
He shook his head. "No, I have an idea." He reached into his utility belt and pulled out a small red pill. He proceeded to swallow it.
"What was that?"
"In case of emergency, break glass." He replied as he lifted her bridal style. "We're getting out of here."
Wally began to run, faster than Artemis knew he could run. It was always a sore point for Wally that he wasn't as fast as Barry, AKA The Flash. But now, as far as she could tell he was every bit as quick as Barry Allen. The Krolotean lab became increasingly blurry until suddenly it was gone.
Artemis put two plus two together. Barry gave Wally that red pill to use in a case of extreme emergency. She would later learn that it was the only one in existence, retrieved by accident from the 30th century. And she understood what was happening: they were in the speed zone and no longer in the Krolotean lair.
"Wally, were are we?"
"We're on our way home …"
Wally's body jerked as if he had hit a speed bump.
"What was that?" She shrieked.
"I don't know, it's my first time in the Speed Zone. Barry never mentioned anything about bumps … nevermind … we're back on Earth, now we just need to exit at Happy Harbor and all will be ... oh shit!"
Before Artemis could react they crashed into something and she was slammed against a wall.
"Ow, that hurt." She mumbled to herself. Her vision came back into focus. There we in some sort of multipurpose room. It had a kitchen, a dining table and a semi-circle shaped couch. She slowly stood up and rubbed her head.
"Wally, are you OK?" Artemis shouted.
-( - )-
Jinx groaned as she rolled over. Every bone in her body ached and she was amazed that none were broken. Her surroundings slowly came into focus and she recognized she was in the common room, which meant that, even though they crashed into something, they had made safely home.
She was still prostrate on the floor when she realized that the Kid Flash wasn't next to her. She rolled over, but did not see him. She was about to call out his name when he heard an unknown woman's voice.
"Wally, are you OK?" The strange voice shouted.
Jinx leaped to her feet and looked in the direction of the voice. And she saw a blonde woman dressed in forest green with a bow and quiver on her back. The hextress frowned. She once met Arrowette and this woman did not look like her. Was she a new Green Arrow sidekick? But a nagging question hung in the air: Why was this woman calling for Wally?
"Wally, can you hear me?" The stranger shouted. Jinx's frown intensified.
"I'm over here, Artemis."
The stranger ran over to the speedster. Jinx's eyes almost popped out of her face when she saw the interloper kiss Wally with real gusto. Without knowing it Jinx balled her fists and a furious scowl appeared on her face.
"Wallace West! What the hell do you think you're doing, kissing that woman!?"
Artemis returned Jinx's astonished look. Kid Flash rose to his feet.
"Excuse me, miss … uh … do I know you?" Wally asked in a clearly confused voice.
"Know me!? Of course you do. What I want to know is who is she?" Jinx seethed.
"My name is Artemis." She turned to face her boyfriend. "Wally, who is this woman? Why does she know you?"
Kid Flash shook his head. "I can't say I've ever seen her before."
"Never seen me before? I'm your girlfriend, you idiot!" Jinx shrieked.
"Wally, is there something you haven't told me?" Artemis frowned.
"No … Artemis … really … I have no idea who she is."
"The why does she know who you are?"
"I know who he is because I'm his girlfriend."
A not so friendly chuckle escaped from the blond's lips. "Wrong, cupcake. I'm his girlfriend."
Jinx glared at Wally. "You no good, two timing, son of a bitch." She then refocused her ire at Artemis. "If you think I'm going to let you steal my boyfriend, even if he is damned cheater, then you need to have your head examined."
Artemis scoffed at the threat. "If anyone needs her head examined, it's you, you pink haired whack job."
Jinx screamed her displeasure and lunged at Artemis. Even though she was shorter and had an Olive Oyl build, Artemis found the ping haired woman to be a formidable hand to hand combat foe. Wally watched mesmerized as the cat fight escalated. While he had no idea of who Jinx was he was oddly pleased by the sight of two women fighting over him. It was a new experience for him and he was relishing it. Of course he wanted Artemis to win.
The two women exchanged kicks, blows and threw each other with expert Jujitsu moves. Wally continued watch, in a trance like state. The two women were wrestling on the ground when they heard a familiar voice.
"Jinx, where are you? I can't get up, I messed my ribs up even more."
The two women ceased their struggle and quickly got up. Jinx ran to the voice, which came from the other side of the circular couch. Jinx's expression softened.
"Oh baby, are you ok?" Her voice cracked.
Wally and Artemis walked over to the other side of the couch. Their eyes bugged when they saw the young man sprawled on the floor.
"What the …" Were the only words to come out of Artemis's mouth. She looked back and forth between the two Wallies. "Ok, I'm not in Kansas anymore."
Jinx delicately examined Wally's injuries. "You're hurt, and bad. Where's Raven when you need her?"
As if on cue one of the dark sorceresses portals opened. Artemis watched as two figures stepped out.
"Dude, Brother Blood was tough!"
Before she could reply Raven noticed that a stranger was standing next to Kid Flash.
"We have a guest, Beast Boy." She announced in her deadpan.
"Raven, get your gray butt over here! Wally's hurt!"
The Chromatically Challenged Couple™ exchanged a confused look. Raven then glided over the couch and remained levitating in the air.
"Gar, get yourself over here. You need to see this."
"Is that Beast Boy? He looks … different. And who's the girl in the blue hood?" Wally whispered
"I met her once. Her name is Raven. She's a loner; she refuses to join any team. I've heard rumors that she's some kind of demoness." Artemis replied.
As soon as the changeling walked around the couch he blurted "Dude! Rave, what's going on? Why are there two Kid Flashes?"
Raven knelt next to the prone speedster and her healing blue light appeared.
"I have no idea."
-( - )-
I was going to make this a one shot; but it will be a short, multichapter story instead.