My first story! Let me know what you think!

How Far We've Come

Prologue

It was just another day in the city. Well, maybe another day since the all-out fight between the Brotherhood of Evil. Kid Flash yawned as he walked into the infamous Titan Tower of Jump City. He and the Titans had just stopped a bank robbery downtown that involved three masked thugs with handguns. Sure, it had been eventful at first, what with all the panicked people and the police alarms and the yelling from the thieves, but after getting past all the noise, it was rather boring. Childs play in his opinion. Kid Flash had learned early on that he was ten times faster than any machine gun, much less a handgun, and had stopped fearing them a long time ago. In short, the Titans arrived (with Kid Flash in tow), said their scary catch phrases, attacked, and finished the job in two seconds flat. Well, ok maybe not that quickly, but that's how easy it felt. Once the bad guys had been handed over to the police, Kid Flash and the Titans decided to head back to the tower to chill, thus bringing him back to his current location.

After declining an invitation to play volleyball with the others, the super speedster dashed back to hallway where the guest bedrooms were. Once there, he made his way into one of the rooms and took a moment to stop and stare. Kid Flash was usually not one to stop moving for very long but even he made exceptions. This time, it was to stare at the Pink haired beauty who peered out the window on the opposite side of the room. Her back was to him, but he knew that she already knew he was there. She always did.

"I'm home, Dear!" He proclaimed dramatically. He heard her chuckle.

"Welcome back, Wally. How was the mission?" She asked, turning to face him with a catlike grin to match her catlike eyes.

"Meh, uneventful," he replied before plopping down on her bed. "Just a bank robbery, no biggie. You should have come though; you'd probably enjoy it, Jinx."

"Aw, miss me? You were only gone for about 20 minutes." Jinx joked.

"Twenty minutes! I can't believe I survived that long without you!" He followed up with a slight kiss on the cheek, leaving her with a slight blush. "But seriously, you need to get out more! It's a nice day outside and you've just been cooped up in your room for the past few days now." His playful expression changed to a serious one before asking, "Is everything ok?"

Jinx frowned, and then turned back towards the window. "I've just been thinking that's all."

"Thinking? About what?"

"About the Brotherhood."

That surprised him. Ever since the Brotherhood of Evil had been defeated, almost nobody bothered to bring them up. The Brotherhood had been a threat for so long, yet most of the Titans didn't even want to mention the name now that they'd finally beat them. Flash speculated that they all just wanted to forget the whole ordeal and enjoy the time they'd lost fighting the brain. And he didn't blame them. So the fact that Jinx was thinking about them now left him puzzled and curious.

"I guess it is a little quiet without 'em. What's on your mind?" he asked while getting off her bed.

Her shoulders tensed. "I was just wondering how the others are holding up."

By her reaction, Flash could tell she was referring to the other H.I.V.E. students. No one else in the Brotherhood could shake her up this much, no matter how strong. Cautiously, he placed an arm around her waist. When she didn't resist, Flash pulled her toward him until their sides met and she laid her head on his shoulder. "They were frozen using that ice machine Jinx. I doubt they're causing any trouble."

"I know that, I was there when you froze them. It's just that, well…don't you ever wonder how long it will last until they finally break out? That ice can't hold them forever!" Jinx explained in worried tone that he'd never heard from her before. "I'm just afraid of what they'll do when they escape."

"I wouldn't worry about them attacking! Even if they did come after you, there's no way they'd get past me or any of the Titans! We'd all be here to protect you." Flash replied eagerly, but her concern didn't disappear.

"I'm not scared of them attacking me. I guess I'm worried that they'll hate me. I did betray them after all." She said quietly, so quiet it might have been a whisper.

Flash nodded. "Well, there's nothing we can do about that. You can't change how they feel about you," he answered grudgingly. "It's best to forget about them and move on with life."

Jinx was silent, probably letting his words sink in. Kid Flash stayed quiet as well. Behind her silence he knew what she wanted to say. The H.I.V.E. students had been her family for many years, long before he had shown up and convinced her to join the good guys. It had taken him a while to persuade her to come with him to the big fight with the Brotherhood, and when she finally agreed, she had come reluctantly. Flash had to admit that she had put up one heck of a performance during the fight, pretending to be totally cool with simply blasting them all away. He'd almost been convinced that she really was happy about it. But once they were alone, she'd broken down and let her tears out. He'd stayed by her side that night and comforted her as best as he could. After over a month since the big battle, he'd been sure that she'd gotten over it, but then again, he'd been wrong before.

"Jinx, you need to let this go. They aren't coming back. It's time to move on."

At first he wasn't so sure she'd really heard him. He was about to say more until she finally turned to him and smiled ever so slightly. "Yeah, you're right. I guess I'm just being paranoid," she replied before pulling away and running towards the door. "I just need to get out a little more and spend some time in the sun. You've never seen me in my bathing suit before, have you?" She asked slyly, sending him a coy look over her shoulder.

He grinned back. That's the girl he knew and loved. "I can help you put it on if you want!"

She giggled before leaving the room and making a break for the bathroom. As Kid Flash followed behind her, he couldn't help but let his own mind begin to spin. As much as he wanted to believe his own words about the H.I.V.E. not returning, he still couldn't fight off the feeling that it wasn't the last time any of them would encounter the troublemakers. A frozen hive was not a dead hive.

So, that's the prologue. Feel free to review/criticize, just don't be nasty! Thanks!