I don't own the teen titans so this is all a figment of my imagination.
I tried to set it shortly after Cyborg infiltrated the Hive. Reading and Reviewing are welcome. And the only way a flame can hurt me is by me rolling it up and sticking it in my eye, so feel free.
The Teen Titans gathered around the pizza parlor's table celebrating another victory as they usually did. The calm, masked eyes of Robin swept his team as they waited for their pizzas. "Good work to day. Just the mission to keep us on our toes."
Cyborg grinned, "Boo-ya!" One really couldn't call him a black man anymore than they could call him a man. Robbed of his young adult life by an accident, his father had no choice but to test all the prototype cybernetics he could invent to save his child. Though alive he was shunned by his comunity. When he found the titans and began fighting crime with them his father showed him his pride. And acceptance. Cyborg made for a very stable and reliable member of the team.
"At least I didn't get hit with a girder this time." Beastboy sighed. The little changeling smiled slightly. The young man was a deep forest green, everything on him was green. His skin color made him an obvious choice for ridicule, but the Titans gave him a home. His ability to change into any animal he could think of made him one of the most versitile members of the team.
"Yes, friend Robin. A good exercise it has been." Starfire beamed. Alien. Orange skin, green in green eyes, and the redest of red hair made her quite recognizable. And also made her stick out like a sore thumb. Befriending the Titans allowed her to explore the many nuances of earth society while helping to destroy some of the more nasty portions of it. Her strength, and her bolts of energy called starbolts fired from her hands all depend of her calling up strong emotions.
Where strong emotions helped starfire they only hindered Raven. Being part deamon, she had to maintain strict control of her emotions. If not she could not control the magical abilities she wielded. And eaven with her strangle hold on her emotions her powers were incredible.
The banter continued untill the three pizzas arrived. Beast Boy glared as Cyborg took a large bite of the meaty goodness in his hands. Grumbling, Beast Boy ate his tofu pizza. Beastboy maintained being a strict vegetarian due to him being all of the animals Cyborg was currently eating. Their friendship did not prevent him from continuing his near evangelical attempt to convert the titans to vegetarians, or the constant arguing with Cyborg. The remainder of the Titans shared the Cheese pizza and sampled the other two's. All of the other Titans cringed as Starfire slathered her peices with mustard. She grinned broadly, "Most Glorious friends. You should try." Everyone declined her offer.
Robin slowly ate his peice and watched his fellow Titans with a smile. He frowned when he noticed the look on Raven's face. "What is it Raven?" He asked.
"Does anyone else hear that?" Raven asked and she motioned for silence.
"Hear what?" Beastboy asked.
Raven turned her gaze to an alleyway. Robin hearing, something, turned as well. Just intime to see a bright pink flash of light. "Titans Go!"
He lept from the railing and ran to the alley opening. He motioned for Cyborg, Starfire, and Beastboy to hang back. Raven and he cautiously approached the alleyway. Robin looked into the alleyway with only slightly hidden disgust. A rather young woman was struggling to her feet. The remanents of her clothes tied cruelly around her wrists. Her entire body including the surrounding alleyway was covered in gore. Human gore. She turned to see Robin. "STAY AWAY!" She shouted. She began repeating those words softly. Robin recognized her as Jinx from the hive.
Robin landed from where she was floating and pulled back her hood. "Were here to help. Just calm down." Raven slowly approached.
"I killed them. I can do it again." Jinx spoke rapidly. She was frightened and scared. Tears flowed freely. Only having one of her pigtails still up made her look almost deranged. Finally she fell to her knees as her eyes rolled back into her head. Robin rushed forward and caught her before she hit the ground.
Using a knive from his belt he cut her bonds. He took his cape off and draped it across her body. He gently lifted her and left the alley. Cyborg was the first to respond. "JINX!" He turned to Robin. "What happened!"
Raven vomited. Cyborg knew that was bad. If Raven was disturbed, the universe they knew was breaking down. Robin cut the silence. "You knew her better than the rest of us. Get her to the hospital. Raven go with him in case the doctors need to subdue her magic. The rest of us will stay here and search the area with the cops. We aren't really equiped for this type of investigation." Cyborg nodded, as did Raven before rushing to the T-car.
Robin stifled his own urge to vomit as he looked back into the alley. Beastboy and Starfire approached. "What happened to enemy Jinx?" Starfire asked innocently.
"She just crossed the line into being a killer." Robin shook his head. "I can't blame her though. I would have killed them too." He looked at Starfire. "Especially after they did what they did to her."
Beastboy breathed in sharply. "You mean they..." Robin nodded. "Geez." He was silent. "I'll call the cops. This is bad." He muttered as he walked to the pizza parlor.
Starfire's perpetual smile faded. "I still do not understand what has happened. Enemy Jinx killed someone, but you say it is justified. Why is killing justified in this case?"
Robin sighed. "What I mean is that this is about the only time I wouldn't dream of charging someone for murder. She was being raped, Starfire." Robin waited until recognition set in. "She couldn't direct or control her magic so she just let it explode out. As you can see it may take some time for the police to tell who is guilty here."
"Why would anyone do such a horrible thing to anyone else?" Starfire's eyes shone with tears.
"A sick person, wanting sick pleasure." Beastboy said as he returned. "A very sick individual."
Cyborg rushed Jinx into the emergency room ignoring the blood that soaked the front seat of the T-car. He found an empty gourney and began yelling for a doctor. He breifly explained what happened to her and the nurses took her away. Raven guided Cyborg to a seat and began filling out paperwork herself. She finished quickly and sat next to the stunned young man. "She was an enemy, yes, but this is just not right. She isn't that bad at heart. A little misguided, but not that bad." Cyborg spoke quietly.
"I'm sure of it. I assume you're going to stay with her?" Cyborg nodded as he took a deep breath. "Fine. I'll go see how the others are doing."
"Here, take the T-car." In a sign of absolute trust, and that he wasn't going anywhere, he handed Raven his keys. "The AI will help, but don't get caught. You still have a few weeks before you can take your test." He gave a slight smile.
Raven reverently took the keys. "Okay. Take care."
It had been three days since the incident and morale was running low in Titan Tower. Beastboy and Starfire were listless. Raven was ensconced in her room almost all of the time, and Robin hid away in the workout room. Cyborg had stayed at the side of Jinx. She had fallen into a coma. Doctors said it must have been from the shock of releasing all of her powers, or just the shock of what happened to her. It didn't matter she was still not waking up.
Robin had had enough of the mopiness. He knocked lightly on Raven's door. He waited shortly for the familiar pale face to greet him. "Yes?"
"Can you get into other peoples heads?" Robin asked tentatively.
"What like Cy and Beastboy did with my mirror?" Robin nodded. "It isn't easy, but yes. I've been working on it. Why?"
Robin took a deep breath. "You think you could help Jinx?" He paused than quickly added. "If she gets better. Cy will be better, than at least we'll have our team back."
Raven nodded. "I will head over when I'm ready."
Raven and her emotions entered as a team. Despair, Intelligence, Rudeness, Rage, Courage, Love, Happiness, and Envy all watched with Raven as Jinx replayed the scene in the alley over and over. From the three men grabbing her to when Robin and Raven showed up. Jinx dressed as she normally was watched the scene impassively. "You know that isn't going to help matters any." Raven said impassively.
Jinx jerked around. "What the hell are you doing in my dream?" She almost screamed.
"Actually your in a coma." Intelligence said.
"A coma?" She asked woddenly.
"Yeah, ya know when you're completely cut off from the world." Rudeness said. "Your vitals are slowing down. You might want to wake up before you die."
"Why are you in my mind?"
"Cause we're trying to help you out." Raven said. "Could you please cut the playback. I already saw the aftermath. This playback is pointless."
"It will only lead to a sense of self loathing and guilt. Both of which are completely unjustified." Intelligence stated.
"Just let me die. I can't live after this." She absently waved to her playback.
"You're probably right. It is much easier to give up." Despair spoke softly.
Courage walked up and slapped Jinx. "Death is never an option."
Rudness stepped forward, "Hey, bitch. You think your the only one that cares if you live or die?"
Jinx screamed back, "No one cares about me! Why should they? I'm a criminal, and now a killer. I've never killed anyone. Now I have. No one will forgive me."
"Actually the courts have already ruled it self defense. You have no charges." Intellegence stated. "Most people consider it a public service."
"Besides you self loathing dolt," Rudeness opened a small viewing window and focused on Cyborg sleeping in a chair holding her hand, "At lest one other person will give a shit if you live or die."
Jinx looked at the image reverently as she held a hand to her stinging cheek. Small snot bubbles were forming on Cyborgs nose as he snored. Her eyes began to shimmer with pretears. "When he was at the Hive he was cool and all. He eaven took me to the dance as Stone. But then he betrayed the Hive. I thought it was all an act."
Love finally entered the conversation, "It appears that not all of it was a ruse."
Tears began falling down Jinx's face. Raven gripped the side of the image and swung it to herself floating at the foot of Jinx's bed. She sat in the lotus position surrounded by several candles and incense burners. Her face was strained and sweat was pouring down her face. "This whole thing is a lot easier if you can meditate with me. So could you at least wake up. From there I can start helping you like I'm supposed to as your psycologist." Raven spoke softly, but was insistent.
"You're my shrink!" Jinx asked incredulously.
Courage spoke up, "You think she could spend a lifetime dealing with us and not have an idea how the mind works? Bachelors in Criminal Psychology, Boo-Ya! Court appointed to you cause you got freaky magic just like us."
Jinx looked back at the looping scene and it dissolved into the surrounding blackness. "Yeah. I'll try and come out of it."
Raven opened a portal and her emotions began stepping through. Before she left she placed a hand on Jinx's shoulder. "The Titan's will help you through this. I'll help you through it. I have no experience with this in particular, but I have lots when dealing with emotions."
For the first time in a very long while Jinx actually believed the comfort Raven was trying to convey. "Thanks"
Raven stepped through the portal, and settled herself on the floor where she quickly put out the candles and began panting. She took a large gulp of water. She felt like she had run a marathon. She took her discarded cape and wiped the sweat from her eyes.
All of Jinx's monitors started beeping erratically. Blood pressure, heart rate, brain activity, and breathing all jumped dramatically. Responding to the alarms Cyborg woke up. Jinx's eyes flickered open and focused on Raven. Jinx nodded slightly. "Jinx, Jinx, you okay?" Cyborg asked while squeezing her hand.
Jinx nodded again as she began to cry. Raven patted her foot, "I'll be back tomorrow to continue. Rest well." Raven left the room hastily before the nurses could shoo her away.
Raven slumped onto the comunal couch, exhausted. Robin sat down next to her. "How did it go?"
"She's awake now. Got a long way to go though."
"Oh joy! Jinx has awakened." Starfire grinned and clapped her hands.
"So what was it like in there? In the mind of a criminal?" Beastboy asked.
Raven glared at him. "Doctor patient cofidentiality. Can't talk about it." Beasboy looked put out. He changed into a puppy and gave her the look. "I may only be a seventeen yearold with no practice of my own, but rules and morales are concrete. What goes on in our sessions doesn't go anywhere."
"So, will friend Cyborg be returning to the tower?" Starfire asked floating over.
Raven sighed. "Actually I would prefer he stay there." They all looked shocked.
"Wha'dya mean by that?" Beastboy asked.
Raven closed her eyes for a moment before responding. "She needs an anchor." By the puzzled expressions she felt she needed to explain. "Everyone has an anchor. For us it is mostly Robin here. Something we can all hold on to. We can know that exactly where we are, and that we are going in the right direction. When Slade showed up and you started hiding in your room to try and figure him out our anchor chains slackened. We weren't exactly sure where we were, but were reasonably certain of where we were going." She paused. "In Jinx's case, her chain snapped and she was flung into unknown lands in unknown waters with no direction. What I'm hoping is that Cyborg can give her an anchor. That way she has something to say 'this is right, and this is what I have to do'."
"So your saying that you want Cyborg to show her how to be a good guy?" Robin asked.
Raven shook her head, "No, I want Cyborg to be someone she at least knows. To show her she is not alone. Help her come to terms whith the changes. I am going to support her anyway I can. If she wants to go back and be a bad guy, fine. I will help her get back with them."
"What! How can you say that?" Beastboy interupted.
Raven glared at him. "When I agreed to be her Psychologist that became priority number one. Making her see the benefits of being a good guy is a very distant second to helping her regain her sanity. If her sanity requires her to go back to the Hive, I will take her there myself." She glared at Beastboy who hid behind Robin.
The nurses left Jinx's room once they were satisfied she was physically all right. Cyborg stubbornly refused to leave. They tried to get the guards that guarded her room to physically move him, but after several failed attempts they stopped trying. That didn't mean they couldn't verbally abuse him about his presence.
They were alone now. Jinx looked at him as he sat there still doggedly hanging on to her hand. She inwardly thanked the presence. "I left the Hive you know."
He looked at her. "Why? You seemed to fit in there."
"I did. When I first got there it was fun. The combat room, the training, the learning how to be a villan, it was all fun. After you rubbed Brother Blood in his failure it got worse. Much worse." She sighed, "All the tests were a competition. If you weren't in the top ten you were shocked. Tortured. If you went on a mission and failed you were tortured again. I had to leave."
Cyborg looked at a loss for words. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I stole some stuff and made enough to pay for a nice apartment for a while." She paused. "It was going well untill this happened."
Cyborg squeezed her hand gently. "I didn't mean for all that to happen. I just knew I had to stop Blood from whatever he was doing. The whole good guy bad guy thing. I couldn't let him get away with that."
"It's not your fault. It would have happened eventually."
Cyborg let the silence grow. "It isn't your fault either. What happened to you is possibly the worst thing that can happen to anybody."
Jinx sniffed. Tears began to fall unbidden from her eyes. "I've never killed anyone before. They deserved it, but still."
Cyborg surprised her by leaning over and hugging her. Jinx broke down. Her sobs wracked her body untill she fell asleep from the strain. "I know I lied to you about who I was, but I didn't lie about caring about you." Cyborg whispered quietly to the slumbering sorceress.
Raven scanned the vitals as she entered the room. Looking better. Cyborg napped still holding Jinx's hand. Quietly she woke up Cyborg. "Hey you should go recharge." She said quietly as he awoke.
Grogily he replied, "I'm fine."
Raven took his right forearm and tapped the display showing a flashing bar. "No, your not. Go recharge I will stay with her." Sensing hesitation she added, "You are useless to her like this. I've got it."
Reluctantly he extricated himself from the chair and left the room. Raven waited for Jinx to awaken. Slowly she came to concusness. Raven waited for her to become fully awake. "Where is Cy?" She asked.
"I ordered him to go recharge his batteries."
Jinx looked almost sad, "Okay. So doc what is the plan."
"I'm not a doctor yet. I'm working on it though." Raven replied. "Today I think we'll partake of some meditation."
"You know I've never meditated." She gave a short laugh. "I may use the same stuff you do, but I've never delved into it the way you have. I've always just used it."
Raven bowed her head as she removed her cape and hood. "It is very usefull. I really don't want to go into that kind of stuff here, but when you're better I can lend you some books if you want."
"What you're not going to try and turn me into a good guy?" Jinx chuckled.
Raven sighed, "Nope. Much to the shock of my friends. They thought I was the crazy one when I said I wouldn't do that."
"So, your really not?"
"I told you I'm here to help you get better. Until that happens I'm not gonna sway either way. If getting you better means taking you back to the hive I'll take you myself."
Jinx's demeanor darkened, "I left there for a good reason. I'm not going back."
"Like I said. Good or evil doesn't matter to me. As my patient you getting better is all I care about."
"Really Raven I would think you would at least try."
"I'm half deamon. I'm more of a gray area. Therefore well suited to telling both sides to back off."
Jinx remained silent for a time. "Good to know. I'm so confused right now."
"Can you sit up?" Raven asked after several moments.
Jinx grunted and sat fully up and crossed her legs. "I'm still sore, but yeah."
"I want you to be as comfortable as possible. I will guide you to the proper plane then I will join you there with my emotions. Okay?"
"Okay." Jinx breathed deeply and closed her eyes and the clasped her hands tightly in her lap.
