a/n: Here's my second attempt at Young Justice fic! Be excited. I was actually really surprised how well my first one-shot was received, so hopefully people will enjoy this story as well.

This fic is in-progress, and is being written for a meme prompt, something along the lines of, "What if Kid Flash had fought the H.I.V.E. Five numerous times before joining the Team, and still ran off sometimes to go fight them, confusing the heck out of his teammates. The Team follows KF to one of their confrontations, hilarity ensues. Artemis and Jinx argue about Wally even though neither will admit to liking him."

Note that this is not a Teen Titans crossover; the H.I.V.E. Five lineup written here is the same six particular individuals as in TT, but all have been completely rewritten to fit into the darker, more serious tone of the Young Justice universe. I incorporated bits of canon to explain certain character appearances/behavior and the central plotline (for example, this fic assumes that Mammoth broke out of prison after "Terrors" to regroup with his old teammates, etc.). I did try to keep all the characters at least recognizable, though.

As always, constructive criticism is craved and appreciated. The H.I.V.E. kids all have major personality differences (and physical differences!) from their Teen Titans counterparts, which is intentional, because every character who has appeared in both shows to date is significantly different in each incarnation. However, if I'm getting Wally (or anyone else from the Team) wrong, pleasepleaseplease let me know and all that so I can fix it.

"Finally," Jinx crowed, holding up the pendant with a triumphant gleam in her catlike eyes. The warehouse was dark, but the deep purple gemstone sparkled in her hands, eerily reflecting the nonexistent light. "Feels like I've been waiting forever to get my hands on this."

"I'll say," muttered See-More to her right, grinning crookedly. He held up his own prize, a set of tarnished gold bangles inlaid with glittering sapphires. "It's good to be out actually doing something again. What do you think? Do these bring out my eyes?"

Sorting through a few scattered crates ahead of them, Gizmo paused, staring dead ahead into nothing. His hands froze midair, inches away from a delicate-looking piece of machinery he'd been inspecting. "You only have one eye, See-More," the ten-year-old said tonelessly.

See-More rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, forgetting for a moment that he was wearing a helmet. "…That was kinda the joke, Giz."

"Oh."

On the other side of the warehouse, Billy Numerous argued with one of his five or so clones milling about the area, who were serving as lookouts or simply shuffling about, bored.

"No, we take the SILVER ones," one Billy snarled, shoving a heavy silver vase forcefully at another clone's chest. "They're more valuable!"

"I don't think so," his duplicate argued in kind. He held up several heavy sheets of flattened copper for the other to see. "You can do anythin' with copper! Makes wires, machinery—heck, Gizmo over there prolly has a thousand uses for this stuff, and we AIN'T gonna get another chance to come back here. Take it while we can!"

"How 'bout this," said a third clone impatiently, approaching the fighting pair and putting a red-gloved hand on each of their shoulders. "Why don't we split up a bit more and jus' take ALL of it?"

Grinning savagely, the others nodded, splitting off into four additional clones, who immediately began to pick up heaps of loot at random, whooping in triumph whenever they found something particularly valuable.

Above them all, a cloaked, slight figure with blood-red eyes hovered in the rafters, carefully watching the proceedings below while keeping an eye out for potential danger. Kyd Wykkyd made no attempt to hinder nor help the plundering efforts of his teammates, though he cocked his head to the side at Billy's antics, genuinely mystified.

Off in her own world below, Jinx sighed dreamily, turning the violet pendant over in her hands. "Shame we've got to pawn all this stuff," she told See-More idly, her lavender eyes half-lidded. "A girl could get used to being surrounded by such finery…"

Mammoth, passing by with a heaping armful of heavy machinery, grunted. "You kids wanna eat, don't you?" he growled, pausing to glare at her.

Jinx countered his glare with a wide, unsettling smile. She didn't look the least bit deterred by the fact that Mammoth was easily five times her size. "Of course, of course!" she said sweetly. "And let me say again that we're all very grateful that you came back to help us, Mammoth. How was Belle Reve, by the way?" Her smile suddenly dropped, replaced by a surprisingly cold stare. "Things have changed around here, while you were off running around with those Kobra freaks. Don't you forget that I'm the leader of this team – and I don't appreciate being treated like a child."

Mammoth grunted again and kept walking, though the corners of his mouth twitched upward, like he had a secret to hide.

See-More, who had watched this exchange with only his usual twisted grin for commentary, shook his head. "You know, girl, far as I'm concerned, you can keep whatever you want from tonight," he said. "The important thing is, we're out making hits again!" He pounded an enthusiastic fist into his free hand; his lone eye was bright with excitement within his helmet. "Time to show the world what we're really made of. The H.I.V.E. Five is alive! And this time, there's no arrogant little sidekicks around to stand in our way..."

"Aww," came a horribly familiar voice from the warehouse's entrance. "Didn't you guys miss me?"

The six of them whirled about in unison, already knowing who they'd see, even if they had trouble believing it. They knew that voice. There was no mistaking it, not after so many years.

Sure enough, it was none other than Kid Flash who leaned nonchalantly against the open door of the warehouse, smugly twirling the keys to their getaway truck around one finger. His grin was as conceited as it had always been, eyes alight with mischief and anticipatory excitement.

"…Because I know I sure missed all of YOU," he continued, with that same infuriating cheerfulness as before –

– and then, suddenly, they were all charging him at once.

Jinx was the most nimble of the group, but Mammoth was closer – he threw his stolen goods to the ground with a grunt of rage and flew toward Kid Flash without any hesitation whatsoever.

Of course, given that Kid Flash was capable of moving faster than the eye could blink, a little hesitation might not have been a bad idea after all.

"I don't think the Kobra venom-look suits you too well," the speedster said conversationally, still leaning casually against the garage doorframe as Mammoth charged forward. "It took me waaaaaay too long to figure out it was actually you beneath those big steroid-y muscles. Talk about a makeover! And you didn't even say hello to me in Santa Prisca. How rude is that?"

Mammoth gave no response except a loader grunt of fury. Rolling his eyes, Kid Flash waited until the last possible moment before zipping out of the line of fire, leaving the behemoth to crash noisily into the nearby wall as his fist met nothing but air.

"You never were much of a talker," Kid Flash said lightly. Catching a sudden movement in the corner of his eye, he quickly turned around with a smile. "No, don't worry, I didn't forget about the rest of y—"

Something exploded about a foot away from his head. With a noise of surprise, Kid Flash doubled back, looking around wildly to see Gizmo bearing down on him in a jet-pack. The young boy wore bulky metal gauntlets on both arms that stretched from his wrists to his elbows, and from these, another set of small missiles emerged, ready to fire.

"This time I'm going to kill you," Gizmo said monotonously, expression unreadable behind his goggles. He deployed the explosives without another word.

Kid Flash dodged the small missiles easily, zooming left to right, already grinning again. "The jet pack's new," he said appreciatively, watching as Gizmo hovered to and fro in the air, trying hard to catch up. "Nice work. Think you could lend me the design specs?"

Gizmo set off another round of missiles. "No, I won't do that, because I hate you," the boy said tonelessly, adjusting something on one of his gauntlets. He didn't seem terribly focused on the battle at hand, although to his credit the explosions getting nearer and nearer to their target. "You won't be able to dodge forever. These bombs were designed to predict the course of a fast-moving target. And then you'll be dead."

"Yeah, yeah," Kid Flash muttered, wincing as another missile went off dangerously close to his head. He took a moment to massage his ringing ears. "Good to see you too and all that."

"It's not good to see you. It's never good to see you," Gizmo said matter-of-factly, still tinkering with his gauntlets without looking at him.

"Kid, you really have got no sense of hu—"

At that moment, a large blast of laser fire rammed into Kid Flash's side, sending him tumbling to the ground with a yelp of pain. As he struggled to get re-oriented, he looked up to see See-More grinning wickedly down at him, lone eye gleaming red within his helmet.

"Hey there," the young villain said cheerfully. "Ready to die?"

Knowing what was coming next, Kid Flash ducked to the side just in time to avoid another laser blast. He scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could and started backing away, not taking his eyes off See-More.

"Dude! Give a guy a little warning," the speedster joked, although he moved a bit more warily than before. He knew from experience that the wiry teen before him had plenty of tricks up his sleeve. "You're going to hurt someone like that."

It was hard to tell with half his face obscured by a bulky helmet, but See-More actually looked pleased at the compliment.

"Really? We've been practicing," the teen said, grinning. It wasn't a nice smile. "Knew you had to show back up sometime. Now, hold still for a second – we're all really tired of you messing with us, you see."

He fired another laser from his helmet. Gizmo pitched in too, wordlessly setting off four new missiles from his arm gauntlets. Kid Flash narrowly avoided them all, turning heel and dashing to the opposite end of the warehouse to try and regroup –

– only to collide halfway there with a tall, red, very human-shaped obstacle standing in the way. Kid Flash and the other boy both went sprawling to the ground, shouting, and it was only when about six other identical figures came up to surround them that Kid Flash recognized his new assailant as Billy Numerous. Billy and his duplicates could have passed for twins, or quintuplets, or however many of them existed at a given moment – they were all indistinguishable, lanky twenty-year-olds with unkempt black hair, and dressed in red bodysuits that completely covered them from the neck down.

"Bet you regret that," Kid Flash said conversationally, glancing at the clone beside him on the ground. "Good to see you, by the way. Earn your GED yet? Oh, wait a sec, I forget you aren't exactly the bright one…"

Another one of the clones moved to kick him, but Kid Flash quickly rolled over to avoid the attack, then jumped to his feet. The duplicate on the ground spat and clumsily stood as well, hands bleeding from painful-looking scrapes courtesy of his liaison with the floor. Another clone snickered.

The first one glared at his double. "Shut up, you dumb piece've – " Billy snarled, but then stopped, shaking his head as if to clear it. "Whatever. Let's jus' take care of this guy!"

Kid Flash glanced about the circle of clones, noting that Mammoth was approaching fast behind them, his bulky frame still covered in plaster from the wall. "Does it still count as talking to yourself if there's more than one of you?" the speedster asked brightly, secretly looking for an opening.

The clones jumped him. Kid Flash zipped around the first three without any trouble, while keeping an eye on Mammoth, but a fourth clone managed to trip him. He hit the ground hard, wheezing as two more clones began kicking him in the chest.

"How d'you like them apples?" one Billy gloated, pulling back his leg for another kick.

Exhaling quickly, Kid Flash braced himself against the ground for a second and then sprang back up at a run, silently thanking his luck for the body protectors that lined his suit. Billy Numerous wasn't holding back; without the extra insulation, Kid Flash probably would have ended up with a broken rib.

But he wasn't out of the woods yet. Mere seconds after Kid Flash had gotten clear of Billy and his duplicates, Mammoth arrived, tossing the clones aside indiscriminately to try and reach him.

"C'mere!" the behemoth growled.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Kid Flash said, taking off again at a run and thinking fast. Who should he deal with first? Gizmo and See-More were the best-equipped to check his movements, so it might be better to start with –

That train of thought was cut off abruptly as the speedster suddenly tripped over his own feet without warning, tumbling to the ground for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

"Man, what rotten luck!" he muttered angrily, getting quickly back to his feet.

"Couldn't have said it better myself."

Kid Flash froze, then jerked his head to the left. He was too late to avoid the first blow—a petite fist clocked him dead-on the left side of his head, hard enough to bruise, and Kid Flash staggered backward, eyes widening in recognition even as he recovered from the hit.

"...Jinx?" he asked dumbly.

She smiled wide. "Hi."

Then she ran in for another attack.

Kid Flash jumped back a foot or so, reorienting himself, then launched head-on into the fight. Settling into a slow pace (for him, at least), he dodged Jinx's patterned strikes with relative ease, throwing a handful of token punches her way to keep up appearances but really just trying to get a better look at her.

She was as pretty as he remembered. Bronzed skin, pink dreadlocks, thin (deceptively thin) limbs – he thought she might have gotten a few new facial piercings since he'd last seen her. She still seemed to be adorned in jewelry from head to foot, with gold and copper bands spiraling, mismatched, all up and down her bare arms.

Kid Flash realized with a jolt that he'd finally grown tall enough for them to be the same height.

"Haven't seen you in a while," Jinx said pleasantly, swiping down with one arm and missing his neck by inches. "Thought you'd finally given up on us."

Kid Flash smiled, forcibly reminding himself of the very predatory gleam in her bright lavender eyes. "Give up on you? Babe, I'd never."

Jinx grinned wider, darting to the side and attempting to kick out at him. He dodged and tried to go in for a punch, but she elegantly flipped out of his range with a polished handspring, giving him a sidelong glance that made him feel thirteen again.

"Well, I guess that's good," Jinx said, lifting both arms. A flash of purple fire materialized in the air above her. "Might as well get you out of the way before we move on to the big leagues."

She lowered her arms sharply and the fire raced straight at him. Kid Flash ran and the spell followed him, all the way across the warehouse floor and even up one of the walls before dissipating harmlessly into the air. He ran back down, stopping in front of Jinx with his most charming smile.

"Come on, babe, don't be like that," he teased.

Jinx didn't respond, concentrating. She braced herself, spreading her feet apart, then lifted her arms again, eyes glowing. Various crates and items began rising into the air around them, swirling harmlessly for a moment before launching violently at Kid Flash. Jinx stood in the center of the storm, expression intensely focused. Her dreadlocks whipped about her face.

"It's been fun. Now please die," she said, meaning it.

Zigzagging across the floor to avoid the junk flying his way, Kid Flash reluctantly decided it was time to stop playing around. He narrowed his eyes and pulled his goggles down over his face, running clear of a few heavy-looking books and an airborne French horn so that he could ram directly into Jinx's side. She went flying, with a loud cry of shock, and the objects in the air scattered in all directions, crashing wherever they landed.

"Remember, I gave you plenty of chances," he warned, watching as she rubbed her head in pain.

"Yeah, you're a real saint," Jinx muttered, getting back to her feet with some difficulty. She stubbornly assumed a defensive stance, but Kid Flash could tell from that she was on the verge of passing out.

The attack hadn't gone unnoticed by the others, though. "Hey!" cried See-More, running over. He hard blinked for a long moment, shifting the function of his helmet visor from infrared vision – tracking mode – back to laser fire. His eye glowed a threatening red. "Back off!"

Kid Flash ran at him. Before See-More knew what was happening, the speedster had barreled directly into him, forcefully, sending him skidding wildly across the warehouse floor. See-More crashed into the nearest wall and hit his head with a sickening crack, falling bonelessly to the ground. He struggled a moment, trying to get to his hands and knees, but ultimately collapsed.

But the others were advancing, too, and they all looked to be out for Kid Flash's blood. Gizmo flew down at him, missiles at the ready, while Mammoth rushed in from the opposite direction, fist drawn back, with a good dozen or so Billy clones trailing at his heels. The three of them attacked as one, working as a team for a change: they coordinated their strikes like a military unit might, trying hard to take Kid Flash out for good this time. Jinx hovered back, swaying as she clutched at her head, but she resolutely barked out orders to her teammates, directing their attack patterns. Every once in a while she fired a bad luck hex or two in Kid Flash's direction to trip him up.

Yet despite their best efforts – and they'd certainly gotten better during the past five months, Kid Flash would give them that – the speedster ran circles around them anyway, grinning cockily as the young supervillains just missed hitting him again and again, screaming in frustration and rage while he zoomed easily out of reach. It had been a long time since he'd fought the H.I.V.E. Five (and he'd had plenty of important things to do in that time, obviously) but it was good to know that some things hadn't changed.

Kid Flash! came a worried female voice, echoing suddenly in his mind. Kid Flash, do you read? Can you hear me?

…But then, of course, other things had changed enormously.