What started out as an effort to write Kid Flash x Jinx decently turned, instead, into a Hive Five-centric fic that can easily be considered an extension of Kid Flash's debut Episode 60. This fic looks beyond romance and concentrates, instead, on the question of exactly what kinds of lengths a villainous group from a children's cartoon show will go to in order to save their own, the kinds of struggles they go through and how they spiral further down into becoming darker and darker.
However, everything I've just said is completely debatable. I am undertaking this project in order to test myself if I can write within the bounds of canon and correct characterization but hold true to the idea of how the kiddish Hive Five transformed into a ruthless, no-mercy policy group. This fic will never become M-rated because extreme blood, gore, angst, and crap is not the tone the show has. Consequently, the story will have its humorous moments and its dark moments, just like any other Teen Titan episode.
This fic takes place after Episode 60 and the series finale, the final confrontation with the Brotherhood of Evil, never happens here. Instead, they mysteriously go into hiding for some nefarious purpose or another and the Teen Titans, discouraged, come back home for brief reprieve. I don't know if I will deal with the Brotherhood of Evil; it's doubtful.
Instead, I will have the Titans take up their regular duties in Jump city and the entire fic will take place in a matter of days. The conflict will be solved in time for our heroes to go back to pursuing the Brotherhood of Evil and so neatly deals with the issue of the fic's timing in order for it to be considered as canonical as possible. Unfortunately, I still haven't sketched out the ending yet so I'm still working on it...
"Ha! Suckers!"
The bomb detonated and the Teen Titans were blown clear across the rooftop, much to Gizmo's delight. He let out a whoop and sped away using his jetpack to where Kyd Wykkyd stood, waiting. But Raven quickly recovered, and moved to intercept him.
As Gizmo neared, however, Kyd Wykkyd gave an affirmative nod and opened a transportational doorway for the kid genius to fly through.
Waving bye-bye to the disgruntled Titans, Gizmo disappeared through, along with Kyd Wykkyd. Raven flew to a stop to, just where moments before, two of the Hive Five villains were there.
"Titans! Split up! Don't let them get away!" Robin yelled after jumping to his feet. But his eyes widened in surprise when he was knocked forward, being punched hard from behind.
However, Robin didn't fall to the ground in a hapless heap, as Mammoth had probably hoped. Instead, jumping forward, Robin took advantage of the push and used his hands to propel him forward into a handspring.
But just as he spun around, bo-stick in hand, he saw See-More running towards the edge of the roof, beckoning Mammoth to follow him. With a cry, Robin ran forward, already seeing the possibility of their escape, but See-More saw him in the distance, and grimaced.
"GO, Mammoth! Meet you back at HQ, man!" But Mammoth had already jumped off the building and freefell right into where Kyd Wykkyd's black portal met him. Kyd Wykkyd gave See-More thumbs up, before disappearing himself.
But unbeknownst to the Titans, Kyd Wykkyd allowed just enough time for Gizmo to fly out of the portal, replacing Mammoth as he joined the fray.
See-More turned back to Robin, satisfied that the last of his teammates had gone. But barely had he turned around before Robin attacked him. See-More quickly stopped Robin's assault by grabbing hold of his bo-stick with both hands, struggling to push it away from his neck.
However, it quickly became apparent that See-More was at a severe disadvantage. This just wasn't his strong point, and Robin would soon overpower him at this rate.
Suddenly, See-More's eyes widened as he saw Gizmo hovering some ways behind Robin. When he saw what Gizmo was getting ready to do, See-More switched off his vision into a different mode, disturbing and random in that an inverted eye peered out at Robin. But then See-More let out a muffled yell when Robin suddenly tripped him.
But barely he fell onto the ground before See-More let out one more yell:
"Gizmo—NOW!"
Confused, Robin reared back from a particularly smug See-More, when Gizmo appeared with a giggle. Before anyone could stop him, Gizmo had suddenly chucked a handful of tiny spheres onto the ground.
It was too late for Robin—and the other Titans—when something went BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOOOOM!!! and each tiny bomb detonated into huge flashes of light.
But because of the sheer number of explosives Gizmo had used, one great flash lit the skies, rendering the Teen Titans completely blind. But Gizmo didn't wait for them to regain their bearings—he immediately flew to See-More's side, pulling him up and flung him over to where yet another one of Kyd Wykkyd's portal's suddenly appeared.
Before See-More disappeared, Gizmo called after him, "You better pay more attention, you dummy! You owe me!"
Turning back to the Titans, the hovering boy blew a big raspberry before activating a button on his chest pad.
Raven, who was the first to shake off the flash grenades' effects, recovered her vision just in time to see that Gizmo had a missile launched at them.
An actual military missile.
She froze. You have got to be joking…
Looking over her shoulders, she realized that no one else was aware of the huge, volatile, death-inducing missile flying towards them. Raven hastily threw out her hands, erecting a shield over them, and transported them all away from danger through a huge shadowy raven.
And just in time. The missile, having lost trace of its target, flew crazily in all different directions before exploding safely in the sky.
----
"I do not understand." Starfire clasped her hands. "Friend Raven, you mean to say that Gizmo had truly meant to kill us when our sight was rendered useless?"
Robin narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure, Raven? The Hive Five have never actually used a weapon that could potentially kill us before..."
"I'm telling you, I saw Gizmo use a missile against us. He was going to kill us, too, if I hadn't teleported us all away in time! And besides, it took hours for you guys to finally see straight. Cyborg said that it nearly burned out your optical nerves."
Cyborg was the second Titan to regain his sight. Through sheer will, it seemed. And partly because he was half-machine.
Nobody bothered pointing that out.
Robin rubbed his temples. "Still, I'm having a hard time believing it, Raven. I get the grenades since they're definitely a possibility, and, sure, they have Gizmo and his gadgets, but an actual missile? Where could they have gotten such firepower?"
"And yet," Starfire injected, "the Five of Hive has been extremely hostile as of late. I have begun to think that they are capable of any evil now."
"She's right, Robin. It's like they suddenly transformed into…into…" Raven motioned her hand around for emphasis, "real villains. An elite group of them. It's kind of disconcerting, since they used to be kinda pathetic."
"I agree." Robin frowned. "But if they've been this active lately, where's Jinx? I thought she was their leader. And she's one of the main threats within the Hive Five, too. Logically, fighting them should be a lot easier since she hasn't shown up for awhile, but it hasn't. And they actually worked among themselves without arguing." He sounded disturbed at that thought, too.
"They have become most aggressive," Starfire agreed quietly. "And Friend Beast Boy has yet to awaken from being attacked by Kyd Wykkyed."
The three of them fell silent at this. It was true; Beast Boy had been preoccupied with Mammoth when Kyd Wykkyd had suddenly snuck up behind the Titan and knocked him unconscious with just the slightest touch of a gloved hand.
The catch was, it seemed to only work if Kyd Wykkyd struck a nerve in the base of the neck. Something that was made all-too possible with Mammoth's help.
The scary thing was, it was an actual well-organized trap. And up until now, they thought that Mammoth was all brawn and no brain. Could it be that Kyd Wykkyd could communicate with the supposedly stupid Mammoth from the very beginning? But the Hive Five wasn't especially known for their teamwork, either…
So when had that all changed? And since when had Kyd Wykkyd had so much power? He could now easily rival Raven, who was a worthy opponent in her own right. Indeed, in a battle of wits, strategy, and a lot of dark magic, Kyd Wykkyd had held his own against her!
The Teen Titans were just beginning to realize just what a threat the Hive Five really was. They had finally shown their true colors.
But if that was true, what was the catalyst? They just couldn't understand it.
"Uh, guys?" Cyborg stepped into the room, having checked on the unconscious Beast Boy in the infirmary. "I think y'all outta see this." He clicked on the T.V.
The others drew close to the television, curious yet worried as to why Cyborg was looking especially grim. The answer soon became apparent.
The T.V. was on a news channel, which was showing video feed of a familiar building on fire.
"But wait, isn't that…?" At Robin's stunned expression, Cyborg nodded unhappily.
"Yeah. Jump City Memorial Hospital. And that's not all." His eyes darkened as he un-muted the screen.
"…earlier tonight, though there is reason to believe that it was an accidental fire, the police have reported that there is newfound evidence of it actually being intentional. Police are working to apprehend this criminal, who they believe have accomplices, as the fire was evidently the work of several perpetrators. Thankfully, there have only been minor injuries and all staff and patients have been evacuated safely. Next up, a riot downtown…"
Cyborg muted the screen. The room was silent.
Raven finally broke it. "So…while we were fighting the Hive Five…"
"The hospital was set on fire," Robin finished with a grimace.
"But please," Starfire pleaded, "who could have done such a terrible thing?"
"Oh, I'll tell you who." Cyborg suddenly looked angry. "Billy Numerous."
"What? The one that can duplicate himself a hundred times over? How do you figure?"
Cyborg sighed and his shoulders sagged. "Well, if you remember, he ran off at the beginning of the fight. Nobody else noticed him escape but me, so I put a tracer on him and stayed to fight."
Raven's eyes widened. "And when they said that there were multiple suspects…"
"Bingo. It was actually the work of Billy Numerous."
"But friends, why would the numerous Billys set aflame the place of healing? Did he not realize that people could be easily killed?"
Cyborg quirked a small, unexpected smile. "Actually, the news was wrong. The fire was actually chemical based and it did start in the basement, but I found out that Billy Numerous accidentally set the lab on fire."
Looking miffed, Raven demanded, "But how could anyone accidentally start a chemicalfire, of all things?"
But Robin had a different question. "How'd you find this all out, Cyborg? If the police couldn't figure this out…"
"Hey, hey! This is me we're talking about here." Cyborg grinned, a welcome reprieve from his dark mood "And here—let me show you."
Smoothly sliding into a seat, Cyborg tapped into the computer a string of codes and the T.V. changed into a computer screen. "Now, I hacked into the hospital's system after I traced Billy Numerous there, and discovered something in the ole basement." After tapping the keyboard a few more times, a video opened up on screen and started to play.
Off-screen, a voice could be heard. "Lookie here, Billy! I found me this place's laboratory!" But the voice was cracking unnaturally and the image feed was distorted.
The door swings open and Billy Numerous steps through cautiously, looking around appreciatively. "Whooowee! We've hit the jackpot here, Billy!"
A second Billy Numerous steps through the door after the first one. He, too, paused to look around the hospital's laboratory. He gave a long whistle. "I agree! Good job, Billy!" The second Billy stops, staring intently at something off-screen, apparently enthralled with something he'd seen. Suddenly, a broad grin makes its way across his face. "Here're the thingys, Billy! I've found 'em, Billy, I've found 'em!"
"Heheheh…good spottin', Billy! Good spottin'! Now…"
"…Start grabbin'!" both Billys crowed. Both of them split themselves into two before they went to work. But the third Billy suddenly sees something nearby. He wanders away from the others.
"Hold up, Billy! What're these thingys right 'ere?"
"What're you doin' there, Billy?" one of them wails. "We're supposed to steal these vials right 'ere!"
Too late. Something shatters. All three Billys whirl around and round on poor clumsy Billy.
"ARRRRGH! Darn it, Billy! Whatya doin'? Hurry now, Billy! Grab 'em all and let's ditch this place!"
"Got 'em, Billy! Now let's make way!"
Another glass breaks off-screen, and the camera briefly shakes. An angry hiss, and then an explosion is promptly heard.
"TOO LATE, BILLY! HURRY, HURRY, HURRY!!!"
The unmistakable sizzle and hiss of a fire roars in the background. It doesn't take long to spread through the room until flames are visible onscreen. Something starts to crackle dangerously nearby and the screen slowly sputters out until the camera is completely out of commission.
"Uh…" Raven eloquently said. "So…what did Billy Numerous take?"
"Dunno." Cyborg shrugged. "Can't get anywhere near there—the place is trashed, and the police are everywhere. But whatever it is, it was important enough for them to steal directly from Jump City Memorial Hospital's old lab. And enough research to actually discover its existence."
"Do you mean to say that there is more than one laboratory of hospitals?"
"Yeah, last I checked the old lab was abandoned and they built a new one in a separate building. I think the city opted to use it for medicine storage instead, so I don't know how medicine could have caused a chemical fire this bad—"
Robin stopped him with a hand. "Wait, did you say medicine?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with—" Cyborg broke off, blinking. Turning to the others, he said slowly, "Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?"
Raven rolled her eyes. "No."
Robin's eyebrows furrowed. "But…what would they need those for? And how did they know to steal which specific one?"
"Hm…yeah, now that I think about it…Billy Numerous also knew the exact location of what he was looking for. But I wonder how—"
"Please, Friend Cyborg, what substance type was the numerous Billys attempting to steal within the abandoned laboratory of old?"
The others exchanged a look with one another. Raven drawled out, "You mean…you don't know?"
"Star, what we think is that the Hive Five is after some sort of medicine. A…a cure of sorts, I think. At least, that's what the lab had been used for in the first place. For research," he added unnecessarily.
"Robin's right, Star. Checking the hospital's archive, I know that the lab was used to make and produce medicines for disease when they had to shut down. They even had a cancer cure gig going on before…well, it's the best facility Jump City has to offer. Or at least it was."
"If that is the function of the abandoned lab, the one the Five of Hive infiltrated and stole from, what ailment do they seek to cure?"
Starefire's innocent but valid question brought a standstill in their conversation. Indeed, for what other use, than to cure, would the Hive Five have for secret medicine?
But the question was, what were they trying to cure and who?
----
"So, what've we got?" demanded Gizmo.
The original Billy Numerous looked edgy. Laying out the vials on the tabletop for everyone to see, he said, "Billy here destructed the lab and these 'ere were the only ones we could see."
"It ain't my fault, Billy! Dang dog crazy laaaaboratory blew up 'fore I knew it!"
"Move it! I gotta see 'em." Gizmo shoved past the two Billys, grasping the tiny vials in one hand and inspecting it with a gadget in the other. For all his impatience, though, Gizmo was surprisingly gentle with them.
As he continued to examine one of them, See-More gave an unhappy sigh. "Couldn't you guys have at least avoided setting the hospital on fire?"
Both Billys exclaimed, "It weren't my fault, it were Billy's!" before pointing at each other.
Kyd Wykkyd just shook his head and turned the T.V. on.
And what they saw immediately caught their attention.
All five of them stared wordlessly at the television; even Gizmo had paused in his work to stare at the video feed of a burning building.
But not just anything old building.
It was the very same hospital they were talking about—the Jump City Memorial Hospital!
None of them heard the anchorwoman's words, as it only washed over them. All their attention was on the video that featured the building burning to the ground, and the firemen that struggled in vain to dose it.
They had made the mistake of assuming that this was just a normal fire. And the water had only made it worse. Soon enough, they caught on and brought out the necessary equipment to deal with chemical fires.
And yet, none of the Hive Five saw the desperation lined in the firemen's faces, or even contemplate the impact this event would have on the city as a whole. Nor did they ever stop to think and wonder whether everyone would come out a-okay.
Because they didn't care for any of that. What others thought and saw as they watched this program mattered very little to the members of the Hive Five. Because all they really saw was their last hope, their last lead, burn to the ground.
Gizmo, who had long returned to his work, had been unnoticed by the others who continued to silently watch the news. It was his frustrated yell that snapped through their reveries and brought their attention onto him.
"This ain't the stickin' cure!" Gizmo smashed the vials that were in his hand onto the ground. His whole body trembled, his eyes wide and disbelieving. He looked like he was going into shock.
And then slowly, but surely, sobs started to wrack the boy genius's body. Sinking to his knees in despair, he choked out, "This…this is it, y-you guys…it's over!" He pounded the ground. "Why, why, why, why, why did it have to be her?! It's not—it's not fair! Damn it—why? Why did the stupid place have to burn down?! Why is everything so stupid!!"
Kyd Wykkyd slowly crouched down to Gizmo's level and laid a hand on his head in a rare gesture of comfort. He could offer no words to soothe his pain, only share it.
The rest of the Hive Five despondently made their way towards the pair and in a moment of rare silence, shared their grief with one another. They didn't look at each other. It had been slowly dawning on them just what the burning of the hospital meant, and it had only sank in, their revelation spurred on by Gizmo's breakdown.
And Gizmo, who had made it a personal mission to do whatever he could to prepare a cure, felt like a failure.
A complete and utter failure.
There were a lot of things he wasn't proud of. Things a villain-in-training shouldn't ever feel. Especially in his line of work where ruthlessness was a requirement, callousness was a given, and heartlessness was expected.
Heartlessness was expected. Yeah, that was what he tried to tell himself over and over whenever he felt proud of Jinx's top grades back at the academy or whenever he spent time with Mammoth, playing video games like Doomsday or Mega Monkeys 2 with him.
Things he shouldn't have felt, he did. And things he should have shut away someplace that never saw the light of day, he reveled in.
He was their kid bro. And he loved it.
But there was only so much Gizmo could take before he broke.
He felt this utter feeling of…something. He couldn't explain it, and he couldn't come close to describing it. The closest thing, he supposed, was helplessness. But it wasn't that either.
When that crut-rusted tin can came into H.I.V.E. Academy and called himself "Stone," he knew something was up with that guy. Something bad. But Jinx spent so much friggin' time with that piece of junk! And she was always so…happy then, too.
He wanted to feel happy for her. But he didn't. He felt crappy. As if he was being replaced. When he confronted Mammoth about it, the big guy didn't even know what he was even talking about! Oh, but Gizmo knew the threat was real and that it was definitely there. And he had to stop it somehow!
But that wasn't what irked him the most about the cruddy situation. Even when spending time as a trio, she never smiled as much with them as she did with Stone. She never laughed as much with them as she did in classes with Stone. And she, throughout his entire stay, spent more time with cruddy ol' Stone than she had with he and Mammoth the entire last year!
And when Stone was revealed for what he was, a stickin' Teen Titan, Gizmo wanted to dance with glee. But he didn't. Because even then stupid tin man was making her sad—when he was long gone!
And when Jinx finally got over stupid, cruddy, outdated Cyborg, Kid Flash came into the picture! Oh, how Gizmo hated Kid Flash. The whole crap deal with Kid Flash and that mean old hag Madam Rouge happened a couple months ago, but that didn't mean Jinx had forgotten about it.
If possible, her fixation on Kid Flash was even worse than her obsession with Stone, or Cyborg, or—or whatever the heck that piece of scrapped metal was called these days!
And the worst part was that he couldn't even talk to anyone about it! No one understood the turmoil that he was in! All those nasty thoughts of heroes and the Teen Titans couldn't be good for such a villain as himself!
He even lost sleep over it, however pathetic that sounded. But, hey, he was entitled to self-pity if Jinx could go all mushy-eyed over superheroes.
But for all that…Gizmo would've given anything to see Jinx acting like a lovelorn old fool again than…than seeing her like…this. He wanted anything for everything to go back to normal; where he and Jinx badgered each other into impromptu fights…where the Hive Five just went out for a night out stealing…when had everything gone wrong?
Because this…this time it was…this time it was really bad.
This time, it wasn't an issue over whether he was being replaced with someone who didn't even exist, or some tidy widy superhero who sped in and out of HQ giving her friggin' roses…this time, the threat was real. And it wasn't just a rotten egg of a Taking Over The World plan, either.
This was serious. This was permanent. This was…real.
And no matter how hard he tried, Gizmo couldn't stop it.
He couldn't stop it, he couldn't stop it, he couldn't stop it…
Jinx was dying. And there was nothing he could do about it.
Nothing.
The Hive Five are my favorite characters in all of Teen Titans (though Raven comes suspiciously close to first...) and I hope to develop this particular group of villains in a way that can be seen as canonical. I tried to keep everyone in character and have slaved over how I should present the (currently absent) heroine of the fic: Jinx. You guys don't know how many times I've watched Episode 60 in order to prepare myself, mostly as research for how to pull Kid Flash off. And there will be Kid Flash-Jinx interactions, no doubt, but only to the extent that Episode 60 implies and allows.
But that isn't the focus of the fic. The point to this fic is the struggle I'm going to put Hive Five through because the Teen Titans aren't the only ones who go through crap and grow from it. Yes, I love those guys, but since when has an author tried to seriously portray the Hive Five in a way that the focus of the entire fic is on them? Most fics where Kid Flash is paired up with Jinx features a betrayed Hive Five that declares Jinx a 'traitor' at the drop of a hat and goes on to become the occasional antagonists of that romance fic. I wanted to see a Hive Five who weren't straggling along like that.