AN: Very, very sorry for the late update, everyone- I got distracted by finals, and then by the holidays. Hopefully, it won't happen again!
Chapter 1: Plans in Motion
The distinctive hissing sound of energy blasts being discharged from beam rifles filled the bank lobby, and Jinx barely had time to duck behind a heavy oaken desk to avoid being reduced to a pile of smoking cinders. Twisting around, she poked her head over the desk's edge and saw four figures in gleaming gold armor- HIVE soldiers- crouching beside marble pillars, weapons trained on her. Behind them, the door to the bank vault lay blasted off its hinges, and several more soldiers could be seen moving about inside, loading gold bars and other valuables into large sacks.
Jinx pulled back behind the desk and turned to face her partner, who crouched nearby. "I can't believe this!" she said, shaking her head. "This is the fifth HIVE raid in as many weeks. It's seriously starting to get on my nerves- and I'm sick of looking at those bug-eyed helmets. Haven't the Directors heard of a little thing called 'variety'?"
"Ah, cut 'em some slack," Kid Flash said, winking at her. "The whole "faceless goon" thing's a classic. But you're right- there's something going on here, and it's not good."
Jinx glanced over her shoulder at the HIVE troops and back at Kid Flash. "I think it's time we taught these creeps a lesson. Think you can take their toys away from them?"
He shot her a roguish grin. "Think you can take them down if I do?"
She returned the smile. "Watch me."
Almost before Jinx finished speaking, Kid Flash was gone, leaving only a rustle of air and the sound of a loud wind to mark his passage. Immediately she leaped to her feet and darted in front of the soldiers, hands raised and eyes burning. As one they raised their beam rifles and prepared to open fire- but before they had the chance to squeeze the triggers, something shot past them at incredible speed, leaving the criminal henchman staring in shock and horror at their suddenly empty hands.
The blur came to a halt beside Jinx, resolving itself into Kid Flash with four beam rifles cradles in his arms. The speedster shook his head sadly. "Come on," he said. "You're mothers must have told you it's not safe for little boys to play with firearms, right?" His arms momentarily became blurs again, and when they stilled the components of the pilfered weapons clattered to the ground harmlessly. "Oh, well. Guess they don't make assault weaponry like they used to, huh?"
He crossed his arms and regarded them calmly as they began to fumble for the beam pistols in their hip holsters. Before any of the HIVE soldiers managed to get their weapons ready, however, the air crackled with power and Jinx was forced to duck back, shielding her eyes. When she opened them, Kid Flash hovered a foot above the floor, sealed inside a pulsing sphere of purple energy. Jinx glanced to the entry of the vault, and saw one of the soldiers who'd been inside it standing their, a strange-looking projector held in both hands and aimed at the speedster. Its end glowed the same color as the prison.
"What's going on here?" Kid Flash demanded, his voice sounding weirdly distorted from inside the sphere.
"It worked!" the soldier with the projector declared. "Just as our Master said it would. Now quickly, you fools- kill the girl so we can head back to headquarters with our loot."
"Not if 'the girl' has anything to say about it!" Jinx hissed. She darted forward just as the soldiers opened fire, nimbly dodging their shots with an acrobat's grace. Rolling between the legs of a startled HIVE minion, she leveled one hand at the energy projector and released a hex. It struck the machine in a flash of pinkish-purple light, and then the device exploded, sending its wielder slamming back into the wall. The energy sphere pulsed one final time and dissipated, sending Kid Flash tumbling to the floor.
The HIVE soldiers reoriented on Jinx and aimed their weapons, but she spun towards them, sending hexes flying from both hands. They struck the floor at the soldiers' feet and the marble buckled, cracks opening in it that were directly placed to trap their legs. As they struggled to free themselves, Jinx spun to face the vault, where the four remaining soldiers were now running out, heading for the exit. A well-placed hex sent two of them sprawling, while the remaining two were intercepted just before reaching the door by a red-and-yellow blur that resolved into Kid Flash, who grabbed both of them by the shoulders and smacked their heads together. As the two soldiers crumpled, he wiped his hands and shook his head.
"Good henchmen must be hard to find these days," he said. "You'd think the HIVE could do better than this!"
"This isn't what worries me," Jinx said. "All these raids- they're gearing up for something- and I want to know what it is." Her eyes wandered to where the one who'd used the energy projector- apparently the leader- was sitting up against the wall and rubbing his head. "And I think I'm going to find out."
She walked over to the leader and grabbed him by the collar with one hand while forming a hex in the other. "All right," Jinx said. "I want answers, and I think you've got them. Now, my friend here's too nice to threaten you, but I'm not. I'm not always sure what my hexes will do, but I can guarantee that you won't like it. So unless you want me to hit you with one, talk. Who sent you?"
The leader laughed grimly. "You know who, traitor!"
"The Fifth Director?" Jinx pressed, though her gut told her she was right. "I thought your weapon looked like his work."
"The Fifth Director of the Inner Cirlce is no more," the soldier said. "He is Master of the HIVE now, and soon the world will be at his fingertips. Go ahead- blast me if you want. It won't save you. You can't stop him."
"We'll see about that," Jinx growled, letting the man slide from her grip and down to the floor. She'd seen his type before, and she didn't think she'd be getting anything more out of him. Straightening up, she turned to Kid Flash, who was studying a small device he'd taken from one of the soldiers' belts.
"Man," he said, shaking his head. "The HIVE's been busy, all right. This has their schedule on it- if it's right, they've been doing a lot of raids we never caught on to, all over the place. And it's got places where they've got operations planned on there too." He handed her the pad. "Anything look familiar."
Jinx's eyes scanned the list of city names, and widened when they came to one she recognized. "All right," she said. "Let's get these guys to prison, and then I think we need to go to Jump City." She looked up at Kid Flash, who nodded. "I think the Titans may be needing a little help."
# # # # # # # # # # # #
In spite of his small size, Gizmo was in a truly towering fury as he paced back and forth on the HIVE Five's computer console (so that he would be tall enough to look his teammates in the eyes), ranting angrily. "You scumsucking morons are pathetic!" he shouted. "The Titans are out of commission for days*, then are all busy tidying things back up for weeks, and what do we have to show for it? A shopping cart full of used DVDs we already have, boxes worth of computer hardware that aren't remotely compatible with our systems, and a whole bulk shipment of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!" As he listed off each item, his gaze shifted from one team member to the next, before finally settling on Mammoth.
"But I like Peanut Butter Cups," the strongman said defensively, shrugging. Gizmo threw up his hands in disgust.
"That's not the point!" he shouted. "The point is that we're supposed to be bad news, and instead we're stealing worthless junk that we can't use and nobody'll miss!"
"Well maybe if our fearless leader came along with us instead of sitting at home playing video games, we might have been a little more productive," See-more muttered under his breath, while beside him Kyd Wykkyd nodded in approval and turned his flat, red-eyed stare on Gizmo.
The tiny leader snarled in fury and pulled a beam pistol from his belt, leveling it at See-more's helmet. "You wanna say that again, you snotmunching one-eyed freak?" Then he sighed and holstered the weapon again. "Ah, what's the point? Almost makes me wish Brother Blood was back- at least we got stuff done when he was around!"
A thickly accented chuckle echoed through the base. Gizmo started and yanked his gun out again, aiming wildly across the room and causing his teammates to duck even as they prepared their own attacks. Slowly, they all turned to face the main door even as a thick slime slid out from under it and formed into a tall woman in a red jumpsuit who folded her arms and regarded them coldly.
"Madame Rouge," Gizmo said, gulping and taking a step backwards. His weapons were good, but even he wouldn't test them against this opponent without being absolutely forced to, and he could tell that the rest of the HIVE Five shared that sentiment.
Madame Rouge stepped forward, her reptilian eyes glinting with malice as they swept the room. "Well, well," she murmured. "Gizmo and the HIVE Five, I see. Your security systems are even more pathetic that they were the last time I was here." A slow smile crossed her features. "But come, children. I have an… offer for you."
*The Titans were put out of commission by a spell cast by the demon sorcerer Veneficus in "Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter".