"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's Notes: All disclaimers still apply. Some events here are based off of the opening of "Deception", if you're wondering.

Chapter 4
Initiation

Sneaking out of the dormitory wasn't nearly as difficult as Swindle originally thought. Either Brother Blood encouraged this sort of behavior, or his security was extraordinarily lax. Nevertheless, he made sure he stuck to the shadows and peeked around every corner he came across. Rather than leave through the front doors, the stealthy thief crept out of a ground-floor window and quickly made his way to the wrought-iron gates.

Even with his precautions, Swindle still beat the other three by almost five minutes. In fact, he was found lounging by one of the pillars, idly gazing at his reflection in the blade of one of his daggers.

"Took you guys long enough," the rogue remarked casually, never even turning to face them. "Mammoth get the munchies on the way?"

"What'd you say, stringbean?" the shaggy hulk growled as he loomed over the insulter.

Swindle countered cooly, "Excuse me, but my name's Swindle, an' I get grumpy when I'm tired. What is it you guys wanted, anyways?"

Jinx decided to play diplomat, "Oh, we're just planning to go have a little fun. How does the First Federal Bank of Jump City grab you?"

"Hm... Sounds like fun. Window shopping?"

"Nah, just pickin' up a few things on layaway," Gizmo chortled while extending his wings. "Goin' up?"

With that, the technical genius lifted his companions over the wall and onto the street. Swindle gestured for Jinx to get onto his back before looking back to Gizmo.

"How fast does that jetpack thingy go?"

"100 miles per hour, easy. Why?"

"Just checkin'," the thief simply replied before taking off like a shot with the hex-caster screaming wildly behind him. Gizmo and Mammoth glanced at each other in confusion before racing off after them. On the trip, Swindle made an attempt to jog Jinx's memory.

"So, how long've you been in the Hive?"

"Over five years now!" the girl shouted to hear herself. "I don't suppose you could slow down a bit?"

"Eh, you'll get used to it! (You did once before...)"

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing!" Swindle said brightly. "How long've you known those two?"

"The same amount of time! We met shortly after I was enrolled! After our entry exams, we decided we made a good team and stuck together ever since!"

"I see... Were you, uh, ever suspended or anything?" the rogue tentatively asked, slowing down as they reached the bank.

"Not that I can remember," Jinx answered, bringing her voice down to normal. "I know Mammoth has been put in detention a bunch of times, but that's it. Why do you ask?"

"Curiosity. If I'm gonna be a member of the team, I should get t' know you."

'Why do I keep thinking that I know you, though...? Even this seems familiar!' the sorceress mentally gritted her teeth. 'Urrgh! Why can't I remember?'

"What about you?" she asked him, hoping to get more information out of this mystery. "How long have you lived here?"

"I think it's goin' on seven months now."

"I would've figured six mon-..." Jinx nodded once before she cut herself off. How did she come up with that?

'Could it be...?' Swindle tilted his head, also wondering to himself. However, the moment didn't last long as Gizmo and Mammoth appeared around the corner.

"Ready to blow this place wide open?" Gizmo asked the others with a wicked smirk on his face.

Only Swindle went against the vote, "Lemme pick the lock open first. We don't wanna alert the you-know-whos, after all..."

While Mammoth and Gizmo grumbled, Jinx again spoke in the rogue's defense, "He's got a point. The last thing we need is for the Titans to show up and ruin our fun."

"Fine, but you get one chance," Mammoth pointed a finger into Swindle's face, which was quickly pushed aside.

"Have some kinda faith in me, will ya?" he muttered back as he reached for his picks. Upon examining the lock, he was actually surprised to see how easy it would be to jimmy open. The senator's mansion-o'-doom had apparently raised his expectations way beyond the norm. A few tweaks and clicks later, the double doors of the bank creaked open. Swindle stood up and faced his companions with an "I told you so" smile on his face.

Everyone filed into the lobby of the bank and scanned around for the vault. Gizmo noticed a security camera about to turn to face them and quickly shorted it out with an electrical blast. Swindle examined the floor for any trap mechanisms, but was even more surprised to find none. With a gesture, he led the others to the vault's door and pressed his ear to it.

"Shouldn't be too hard," he whispered.

"Then get on it already!" Gizmo whispered back impatiently.

Swindle gave a "calm down" gesture with one hand and started working on turning the knob in just the right ways. The other three watched the thief tensely, silently hoping that no alarms get tripped in the meantime. A barely audible "click" soon told everyone that the safe was successfully cracked.

"All right, we should work fast. Be careful of any..." Swindle started to say before a sudden blaring of a klaxon horn cut him off. "...traps."

"Oops," was the gruff-sounding reply.

"Nice. Alright, let's move quickly," the rogue sighed, gesturing for everyone else to spread out and grab what they could.

Jinx wasted no time in finding the gems and necklaces in the safety deposit boxes, while Mammoth attempted to hoist a palette of gold bars over his head and Gizmo sought out the coin and currency. Swindle joined the little genius, but only pocketed a few twenties. A couple of minutes passed before Gizmo made an astute observation.

"Move it, crud-munchers! We're running outta time!"

"I could use a hand here!" Mammoth demanded between huffs and pants.

A familiar voice interrupted the scene, "How 'bout a foot?" After a loud smack of metallic boot hitting face, Mammoth was sent across the vault and literally into the far wall. Swindle glanced over the stacks of gold to see the last five people he really wanted to see.

'Hells bells... They're here.'

"Titans, GO!"

Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo all split up to take on their opponents, while Swindle frantically searched his belt pouches for something to hide his face.

"Three raids in one week? Man, this is seriously gettin' old!" he could hear Cyborg comment through sonic cannon bursts.

'Three? My, we're an active bunch...'

"The Hive Academy's new leader must be up to something!" Robin's voice spoke.

The rogue found a small sack and quickly started cutting it up into a makeshift mask, 'You can say that again, Robs...'

"And wouldn't you like to know?" Jinx could be heard taunting her foes, until a loud blast followed by her shriek cut in.

"Yes, we would! Do you not know that your wonderful friend, Swipe, is searching the city for you?" Starfire demanded. Apparently she was the one doing the blasting.

Swindle gritted his teeth and wrapped the new eyemask around his head. He jumped out from his hiding place to survey the battlefield; Jinx was now nimbly dodging Starfire's follow-up starbolts while Robin and Raven were trying to dispel Gizmo's holograms. Mammoth, Cyborg, and Beast Boy had yet to be accounted for.

"I don't know who you're talking about," the sorceress replied as she twirled in place, casting her spells in an almost helter-skelter manner. Accuracy didn't matter, however, as large chunks of the ceiling fell all around the Tamaranean and caused her to briefly fall back.

"Swipe was your dearest friend!" the Titan girl answered back. "The two of you danced together at the Zone of the Retro! You do not remember?"

"Let me think. Hm, doesn't ring a bell!" Jinx cast several more hex-bolts at Starfire, forcing her enemy further back.

A sudden scream from above alerted everyone to Gizmo's true location, while an accompanying feral howl told Swindle where Beast Boy must be. Mammoth had been busy trying to match strength with Cyborg until he shifted his stance and hurled the Titan over his shoulder. To stop Gizmo's pursuer, the brute picked up a large chunk of fallen ceiling and flung it at the deinonychus-morphed changeling. He only had a split second to stand smugly before he was shoulder tackled by Cyborg once again.

Raven had now turned her attention to Jinx, with bits of their old animosity rising up again. Hexes collided with shadow magic, and a few physical blows were exchanged, until...

"Azarath... Metrion..."

Up to this point, Swindle had been content to watch his fellow students in action as they seemed to be holding their own fairly well. However, seeing Jinx in immediate danger caused him to move without even thinking.

"ZINTHOS!"

Raven's magic had animated Gizmo's discarded money sack and aimed it straight at Jinx. Instead, it was intercepted by Swindle's super-fast body, sending him flying into the stack of gold bars rather than the sorceress. The rogue staggered back to his feet, just in time to witness the cloaked Titan raising up more ammunition to use against her opponent. He cursed under his breath and charged back into the crossfire, deflecting the gold bars with his daggers to the best of his ability as Jinx used her own magic to shoot down others.

The shadow sorceress raised an eyebrow at the new face, "Haven't I seen you somewhere before...?" The rumpled hair, superhuman speed, and exceptionally strong weapons seemed too familiar to her.

Swindle coughed and made his voice deeper, "Nope, never seen ya before in my life. I'm just a new student, that's all."

"Hey, watch this!" Gizmo's voice suddenly rose up over the fighting. Cyborg's surprised shout followed, ending with a loud clang that sounded like it came from the ceiling. Swindle looked over his shoulder to see the robotic Titan suspended by a magnetic device several yards off the ground.

"Oh, no, you did not just do what I think you did!" Cyborg roared from his new perch. Gizmo simply cackled before both Swindle and Jinx got thrown backwards by a combined effort from Robin, Starfire, and Raven.

Seeing this was pretty much getting them nowhere, Swindle called for his companions, "Looks like we're done for tonight, you guys. Time to am-scray!"

Question marks popped up around Mammoth's head, "What-scray?"

"Vamoose."

"Oh."

The quartet beat a hasty retreat back through the vault's door, with Swindle in the lead. Before she left, however, Jinx decided to throw a parting shot into the floor and keep the Titans busy with the ensuing shockwave. Swindle stood at the doorway with his hand out, which she quickly took and held onto as tight as possible while the rogue raced off once more.

"Nice mask. Is that what you were working on while we were fighting?"

"Yup, thanks. The color matches my eyes, don'cha think?"

She rolled her eyes, "A real fashion statement..."

Just behind them was Cyborg's screaming, "You ain't turning me into a science fair project and gettin' away with it! GET BACK HERE!"

He couldn't be totally sure, but Swindle thought he heard Robin say, "Don't worry, we'll see them again. Sooner than they think."

Once they returned to the academy and their rooms, Jinx stopped Swindle one last time. In her hand was a hexagonal device emblazoned with a large "H".

"Congratulations," she informed him with a rather sly-looking smile as she handed him the communicator. "You're now one of us."

"Ahh, so that was my initiation? That wasn't such a chore," he remarked while accepting the gift.

"Just be glad we didn't go with Gizmo's idea. He wanted to make you wear a chicken suit for a week."

Swindle chortled, "Not surprised. Thanks for convincing them otherwise."

"Thank you for keeping Raven off my back. I'd say we can call it even," she grinned a bit wider. "G'night, Swindle. See you in the morning, I'm sure."

"G'night, Jinx. Yeah, I'm sure you will."

With that, they both returned to their rooms and shut their doors. No sooner had the weary rogue flopped onto his bed than the Titans' communicator started beeping from under his pillow. He was about to open it when he realized he still had his mask on.

"Swipe! It is I, Starfire! I have very urgent news! Very urgent!"

He quickly threw the mask onto his duffel bag while trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, "Calm down, Sweetcheeks. What's the news?"

"We have located the Hive Academy! Jinx has been found, as well! But, I warn you, she has no memory of you or anything that you did together."

"Yeah, I know..."

Starfire blinked, "What did you say?"

"Um.. I meant, 'Yeah, I'm sure.' After all, if my head got all screwed up by that guy, then it's a safe assumption that Jinxie'd be brainwashed somehow. Anyway, where's the Hive Academy at? I've been lookin' around, but I haven't had much luck."

"I shall up the load to your communicator," after she spoke, a small map appeared in the viewscreen which basically indicated his exact location.

The rogue continued to feign ignorance, "Thanks, Star. You don't know how much this means to me."

"I welcome you," the alien girl replied brightly. "I wish you the very best of luck in rescuing Jinx. Raven told me how much you worried about her while you were recovering."

For a moment, he let his guard down and showed a more somber side of himself, "I still worry about her... It just feels like she's right within my reach, an' yet I can't quite touch her."

Starfire smiled warmly, "I am confident that you will be successful. I know it is getting late, but I could not resist alerting you to our new findings. Rest well, friend Swipe. I hope we will see each other again soon."

"Same here, Sweets. Same here..." he sighed with a bit of a smile. "G'night, Starfire... and thanks."

The Tamaranean's bright smile was the last thing he saw before the channel was closed. The thief let out another sigh as he got changed for bed, still feeling guilty for the charade he was having to keep up for the sake of getting Jinx back without looking like he was betraying the Titans. After what he said to Terra about her actions, the last thing he wanted to wind up being was a hypocrite.

He crawled into his bed and pulled the sheets up over his head, not expecting to get much sleep.

End of Chapter 4

In Chapter 5 - Another new student shows up in the Hive Academy, whom Jinx starts to show interest in. To upset the rogue even further, this new beau is actually someone he knows pretty well.