Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or any other external references made by the characters.

Questions for a Convert

Chapter One: A Painful Goodbye

"What are you doing here?"

"That's normally my line," drawled Jinx, eyeing the red and yellow hero.

"I mean, it's not that I hate seeing you, Jinxie, 'cause I always look forward to seeing that lovely face of yours." His recovery was poor and even though the Titan was suave, his flustered expression could not escape her eyes. He still had his suit on, ever ready against the villains that haunted Jump at night. She would have assumed that the teen would be out in the field regardless. If he wasn't patrolling the streets he was hitting up young girls he thought were equally in need of his attention, or more accurately his affection. "I'm just wondering what you're doing on this side of Jump."

"You shouldn't even be in Jump, Kid. I thought you and the others Titans relocated properly. You know, preventing major dispersion to avoid another Brotherhood of Evil phenomenon? Unless you've been stationed here."

"We are," he said slowly, bright eyes studying her equally bright countenance. "You could come in and talk about it! I would love to spend time catching up with you."

"You saw me yesterday," she reminded him flippantly, "but why would I do that?"

"Well, I'm sure you don't want to stand in my doorway forever."

"That or you don't want me to stand in your door way forever."

"Look, having a cute girl at your door is every guy's dream, but you and I are both not completely comfortable with having all my neighbors listening in to the conversation, are we?"

She couldn't quite argue with that yet, so she took a few hesitant steps in, eyeing the posters Kid Flash had around his apartment. For a Titan's hide out, it was certainly unprofessional and Jinx made sure to voice her opinion on the matter.

"What? I've been going solo for a long time so I've gotta keep things light and up-to-date. You like?"

"I thought you were reconsidering the solo thing. The whole Brotherhood of Evil thing kind of highlighted how disconnected the Titans were." She gave a look around the room again, wrinkling her nose at an unfamiliar poster of a youthful woman in minimal clothing. "Though this place definitely screams teenage boy, I'll give you that much, Captain Spandex."

"Must you always comment on the uniform? I don't mention yours."

"This isn't a uniform. Just something I've adopted. Not all villains go out of our way to be... noticed."

"Were you going to say flashy?" He waggled his eyebrows and gestured for her to take a seat at the kitchen table, which she curtly refused. "That's adorable," he continued, "so why have you come to visit me? Ready to officially switch over?"

"Almost," she admitted, and took pleasure in seeing the shock rippled across his features. "We need to clear some things first."

"Anything," he vowed, surprise transforming into a red and yellow blur of excitement that ended in the Titan sitting at the table with a clipboard and pen in hand. "Clear up as much as you want. Questions, demands, let's go."

She let out a breath. "Why are you so persistent on this while conversion mission? You could get much farther with younger villains that have much more potential and much less of a criminal record."

"I don't like the word persistent. Devoted sounds much better."

"I'm serious."

She watched patiently as his mouth turned downwards, lips pursed in thought as he surveyed her. Jinx was certain that the question would be met with another avoidance before he said, "I was taught that everyone has a little good in them and that when you go as fast as I do, you have to appreciate those things. Only with you, I see a lot of good. You don't have to just leave evil; you can fight for good. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to help you see your own goodness."

If she was being completely honest, she hadn't expected him to be as genuine as he seemed. Then again, she had a bad streak with heroes that generally entailed them screwing her over at the end of the day, no matter how honest she had perceived them to be initially. Kid Flash hadn't been so forthcoming with information in the past, so he could always be lying. But there was something about him that made her doubt such a thing. "That's cute, but we both know I'm a lost cause even if you don't act like it." She unfolded her arms and unlocked the door that he had, in his speed, shut and dead bolted. He was at her side in an instant, re-locking the door while his other hand fixed itself to her wrist. "What do you think you're doing?

"You can't just leave after you tell me that you've finally agreed to be a Titan! Jinx, you can't leave me hanging."

Her pale lashes fluttered, trying to ignore how her heart nearly stopped at their close proximity and Kid Flash's more that desperate tone of voice. "Back up, Kid," she warned, the stove display flickering dangerously.

"Then don't give me heart attacks." He removed his gloved hands from the pale skin of her wrist but took only a step from her. "I thought you were going to leave."

"Every villain needs an escape plan." With a sharp snap, the lock gave a shuddering click as pink energy destroyed it, followed by a groan.

"Jinx, why would you destroy my locks? It costs money to replace these, you know?"

"In case you've forgotten, I'm not familiar with buying things."

"You're not unfamiliar with it either," he reminded, pulling a chair out, "and I don't mind helping you keep it that way. You said that you wanted to talk about it." She gave him a glare but took her seat regardless, her legs crossing with her arms to display how unimpressed she was with his behaviour. "Now go; ask away. If you have demands, let me know."

He posed his pen above the blank pages, looking up at her expectantly and Jinx sighed, eyeing Kid Flash in all of his spandex glory. If they took away their outfits and replaced them with average clothing, Jinx would've bet they looked perfectly domestic. "Your pen's out."

"What?"

"I said that your pen is out. Of ink."

He frowned, tried it out, and sure enough it was revealed that his pen had, in fact, completely run out of ink. "How'd you do that?"

"I didn't." She bristled and saw him desperately trying to salvage his comment.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, honestly! I meant you've got powers that seem to sense those kinds of things and I wanted to know about them because it's pretty cool when you're not using it for evil. Plus we've never talked about it."

Jinx sighed again, giving the Titan an opportunity to snag another pen from a neighbouring room and return to her with a hopeful expression on his face. "I was born with it."

"That's cool." Kid Flash leaned back into the chair and looked like the epitome of relaxed at this new bit of information. She was almost surprised that he wasn't jumping up and down at this information. He was a super hero. He'd have enough mainframe access to dig up information on her powers and their origin. But clearly he didn't know enough, because the bastard wasn't showing any of the characteristic fear that others had at knowing her true origins.

"No, it's not. Why do you think I was called Jinx? It's not just an alias; it's my name. The people who had me in their custody called it a curse and they weren't exactly wrong. Did you know that I killed my own mother when I was born. You can't be good after something like that."

"Jinx-" She couldn't bear to continue looking at the new horror that lingered on his face and glanced away a moment. She had forgotten how much she hated herself. Just thinking about the things she had done, the things people had called her after...They'd never been wrong; she'd been a monster, a witch, a jinx. Her talk with Robin early that day had been no better and now this?

"I tried and I tried to fix it. I tried not to use my powers and look into the superstitions to cure my streak." She looked the hero straight in his gorgeous blue eyes as she admitted, "Nothing; I found nothing. I found that walking under ladders wasn't bad, that black cats are extremely lucky, but there was nothing I could do to fix me. I told you before, didn't I? Good was never an option for me."

"But now it is," he inserted gently, seeing the sadness well up in her eyes and sneak down her pale cheeks without permission. God, this was so weak of her. "It wasn't an option. Now it is. You gave me more HIVE insight than Cyborg ever could! You helped the Titans take down the Brotherhood of Evil, the group that's been keeping even the Doom Patrol trouble for decades. If that doesn't make you good, I don't know what does."

"Being born good," she stated without hesitation and waved off Kid Flash's tissue box offer in exchange for the back of her hand which, when finished with her eyes, left them looking more pink and irritated than before. "Being born good makes you good."

"That's not true." Jinx was once again unsurprised by his conviction. In all the time she had known him, he had always done his best to remain in control and impeccably sure of himself no matter the conversation. She supposed cocky came with the hero duty, held back from the public only by spandex and a mask lest a villain learn their identity and try to punch the smug look off his face themselves on the streets. She knew that the Flash himself was a rather confident man as well. Perhaps cockiness simply came with the mantel. It would certainly explain Kid Flash for her.

"Kid, we've had this conversation already." Her trademark annoyance flickered behind fair eyes. "I want to ask my questions and get this over with."

"Right!" He straightened in his seat, as if he had completely forgotten their original purpose, and shot away to find a new pen, one that (and she had checked) worked perfectly fine. "Your questions! Because you're close to becoming a Titan and you want to clear things up."

Her eyes widened fractionally. "You're reminding yourself or me?"

"Just me if it makes you feel better."

"It doesn't. You're just too easy to talk to."

"Tha-"

"So easy that you had me remembering my past. I don't like that." She scowled. "Maybe I'm not as close to becoming a Titan as I thought."

"No! You are; I can tell," he assured her, visibly restraining himself from becoming too heated in his insistence. "Next question?"

"My next question," she posed slowly, trying to gauge his reaction, "is pretty straightforward. What would happen if Robin doesn't let me become a Titan?"

"Why-?"

"Because we both know he's a stick in the mud. He'd never let a villain like me become a Titan unless he was crazy or convinced they were good guys, like you."

"Robin and I are more alike that you think, but you're not all wrong. Any leader would be a fool to except you on the spot. That's why you've got me to vouch for you. And you've proven yourself enough."

"That's not going to happen."

"We won't know unless we try," he shot back.

"Next question."

"Great," he ducked his head down, pen poised over paper. "On our to-do list, we have 'talk to Robin'. Very promising."

She thought a moment in silence about why she really wanted to speak with him, but figured that the end of the conversation was likely the best time to say something so she moved on. "How many successful conversions have you had?"

Kid Flash coughed into the crook of his arm, letting out a very strangled sound that would have had Jinx raising her eyebrows had they been visible enough to see. "That's a great question." His anxiousness was palpable.

"Which means none."

"No, don't be that way," he groaned.

"What way?"

"The way you are right now with that disappointed look on her face."

She hadn't known that she looked so disheartened and made sure to school her features into her trademark look of annoyance. "I'm not disappointed. This was expected; you're just not very convincing."

"Convincing? Really? You wound me! I convinced even you to help the Titans against the Brotherhood Of Evil."

"You said I could get revenge on Madame Rouge; I couldn't pass it up."

"Sure, sure. What I meant was I haven't really had any successful converts because you were my first real trial."

"Meaning?" The term was semi-insulting, and that seemed to make sense to him because his expression shifted quite rapidly. She figured she'd give him the chance to save himself and he took it.

"Meaning you were the first person I thought actually worthy of my time and effort because I saw so much potential in you."

"You really know how to sweep a girl off her feet, huh?"

"I try." He gave her a charming smile.

"I also meant you as in the Titans; the good guys. Villains don't turn good everyday. How many ex-villain heroes have you got running around?"

"Um..."

"I thought so."

Kid Flash looked genuinely bewildered by the inquiry, the youth wracking his brain trying to find an answer that would no doubt appease her, and that Jinx doubted he could find. She sighed and took the clipboard from his hands so she could draw on her own time. Jinx doubted he could find. Jinx had finished half of his face before he said something. "Hawkeye."

"I'm sorry?"

"I said Hawkeye. He was a villain who became good."

"Hawkeye? He wasn't even a good villain. He was one accident after the other. It was pretty disgraceful, actually, so it doesn't really count."

"You knew Hawkeye when he was a villain?"

"It was along time ago but you never really forget a face, you know? Especially ones I was taught not to be like. We villains are just as territorial as you hero types; if there's a villain, you know about him, even the ones that couldn't do villainy right. They normally land up in our text books. Cyborg would've known about him too."

"How about King Vultan? Was he in your text books?"

"I take it back," Jinx said hurriedly, hands up as if in a surrender. "Who's King Vultan?"

"A villain who technically turned good. He had prisoners but later freed them." Kid Flash seemed proud that this nugget of information was unfamiliar to her.

"But he didn't exactly become a hero, did he?" Jinx guessed.

"To the people he saved, he did. We aren't heroes unless we're classified that by people, normally."

"Nobody would call me a hero," she said.

"And I think you genuinely that," Kid Flash quipped back, leaning in a bit, "but I see a lot more in you. I've seen you do good, Jinx, and you're amazing at it."

"That's one opinion, Kid, and it doesn't make much of a difference."

"I makes a lot of difference to me, but to everybody else? Do you think my opinion mattered to the Terminator? Or Darth Vader? Or Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation? No. They made their own decisions and you can decide to be good. You already have, in a way, why not make it official?"

Jinx sighed, eyes drifting down to her page to see Kid Flash's pale blue eyes staring back at her, pale as parchment and rimmed in the blue ink of her pen. "You really like the solo super hero life, don't you?"

"It's a blessing and a curse, but it has a hell of a lot of perks.

"But you wouldn't give it up. For anything, right?"

"Right."

Another sigh. Guess she would be leaving alone after all. "You're a good friend."

She missed the way his face fell when she spoke those words, missed his mouth open to say other words before changing their mind to say, "That's what I'm here for."

She looked up resolutely, schooling her features into the softest look she could muster and stood to lean across the table, her hand coming up to cup the side of her face. He was so warm.

"I'll miss you more that I'll miss Jump." With that, she shot her hex straight at his face and forced him to faint, his brain cells scrambling at the assault. She grabbed his couch pillow and stuffed it under his head before leaving, shutting the door behind her. It was when she got to the bottom of the complex that what she had done begun to register.

And she did not regret a thing.

Instead, Jinx calmly entered the blue car that awaited her, slipping in with a soft greeting before holding herself tightly. She was never going to see him again, or at least not be in contact with him for a few years. And it would have to be worth it, she reasoned with herself, sinking into the seats with a sigh. She had to do this on her own.

"Did you do it?"

"I did; he loves it here. He wouldn't be interested in the offer."

"Alright." Robin faced the front of the car again, sparing a glance at Cyborg form the shotgun seat before ending their correspondence with, "Let's get this over with."