Chapter Three: The Importance of Trust
"Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."
The break of dawn is nearing close as the whole team gathered at the cave's entrance with their items. The couple, Kid Flash and Jinx, arrived just a few moments earlier. The five teens watched the sky turn from midnight blue to baby blue with red, orange, tangerine, and magenta streaks with the ever so shining sun light up the darkness of both the heavens and earth.
"Its dawn now" Kid Flash announced gently moving his arm to his girlfriend's shoulders. Both looked at each other and smiled.
"Titans, ready up" Jinx commanded with a serious tone. Everyone looked at her as to say 'We were born ready', everyone except Argent.
"Ready" Speedy exclaimed, gripping one hand to his quiver and the other to his bow.
"Ready" Kid Flash said after loading protein bars and energy drinks into his secret stash in his suit.
"Ready" Aqualad mumbled as he looked at Argent in a concerned way and walked to her.
"Argent, are you ready?" Jinx asked in concern. Aqualad had placed a hand on Argent's shoulder as she gazed out to the sky.
Argent sighed and turned to face her comrades. "'ait. 'm raidee" She said as she started to levitate.
"Okay, I'm ready too" Jinx said after she had equipped herself with spying gadgets such as microscopic sized recorder and camera and had put a spell on all their coms in secret which made her eyes glow. "Titans, Go!" She exclaimed and everyone ran out or levitated, in Argent's case, of the cave hideout. They went their separate ways to do the mission.
'We can do this, we can succeed! We have to succeed '
'I'm worried. I think we're in over our head'
'Trust me, everything will be fine'
'We're Teen Titans, this is our duty'
'Don't worry about it, I got your back' Those words rippled through their minds as they set out to accomplish their mission. (P.S. the underlined words are the words that really echoed in their minds)
-With Speedy-
Speedy ran to his designated spot for a bird's eye-view. He avoided many spying eyes that might have made the mission fail. He sprinted up the ridge as if he was running for his life, in this case- for the earth's salvation. He arrowed some criminals that might attack him when he was settled at the ridge, possible threats and compromisers of his location which he needed to be a secret.
When he reached the ridge, he slipped down – causing his running momentum to slide him right near the edge of the ridge. The cold breeze swept over him as he crawled closer to the edge. The blades of grass smelled of fresh morning dew. He finally reached the edge and carefully settled in.
Speedy pressed hidden buttons on his bow and it silently shifted into crossbow-like weapon. He did this because if he had used his regular formed bow, he would have to stand up –therefore compromising his position because of his out-of-place colored costume and hair. This crossbow weapon will allow him to stay lying down while firing an arrow.
He looked through a scope connected to the cross bow and surveyed the area.
-With Aqualad-
Aqualad ran until he found a body of water, where he had dived in. He swam deep into the body of water he was in which was a lake. The lake had many water creatures, to his surprise, although all of those creatures were mutated.
"Creatures of the lake, heed my call! Gather up to me" He telepathically exclaimed as fishes and other biotic factors in the lake gathered around him.
"Tell me, creatures of this lake, what has happened to you?" He asked again in a telepathic way.
"Why should we tell you?" Came a rough voice communicating to him telepathically too. He looked around to identify the owner which was a mutated shark.
"Yeah! Nit-wit! Why should we betray our mother?" Inquired by another sea creature which turned out to be a mutated yellow trout fish. From that question, tension built up around and the other mutated creatures suddenly asked him questions- all at the same time. Aqualad's head started to whorl at the many telepathic questions. When he finally had enough, be made the still underwater wave hard.
His disturbance of the waters had caught the sea creatures off guard. "Enough! I am Prince and Heir of Idyllists! No matter where you are from or what you have become, you shall follow my orders!" He telepathically yelled in an outburst. Every mutated creature cringed and followed his orders, returning after a few moments from his outburst.
"Sir! A huge unnatural cave has been spotted over 150 miles north"
"Sir! A huge gaping hole has been located near the mother ocean"
"Sir! Unnatural pillars had been placed around the area!" The mutated creatures started to report unnerving sightings. Aqualad then moved into action, swimming towards the locations of those new additions to the lake.
-With Argent-
Argent flew up into the atmosphere, hiding behind dark clouds. She checked for her other teammates' sign of life. She spotted Speedy on a ridge and Aqualad underwater. She sighed in relief.
Argent. You are the most important person in this plan. You stay out of sight, alright. Jinx's words rippled in her mind. She felt uneasy and helpless, considering she was the other half who read the files she brought back. There were many missing pieces in one particular file that Kid Flash has deemed dangerous.
The files she had brought back were files of the people involved in everything that had happened during the week they were away. And the file she felt uneasy about – other than the members of the Brotherhood of Evil and accomplice – was this assassin. In that particular assassin's file was hundreds of successful assassinations for the past 6 or so years. The assassin was dubbed 'Snake'- apparently female and around her age. There was no picture of Snake to actually remember her by – both Argent and Kid Flash noted this and disclosed information about her from Jinx.
If my mind is correct, she's worse than Cheshire. She thought as she spotted a yellow and red blur on the ground. She searched for any pink hair and eventually saw Jinx infiltrating the warehouse. As she had spotted all her teammates, Argent started to wait for the signal – all the while watching out for anything that might be someone called Snake.
-With Kid Flash-
I'm really hope nothing happens to the others, better speed up to catch up with Jinx. Kid Flash thought as he sped through the hallways of the warehouse – discreetly listening on conversations the enemy were having. As his body raced through the empty and silently hallways and rooms, his mind raced on two particular persons. First was his girlfriend, Jinx. His senses ached for her right now, even her hexing was being missed by him and it has only been a few minutes. He now wonders how he had lived life without this girl he had become so intoxicated with. And then he remembers, he had a wild life after he denounced himself as being the Flash's sidekick. Parties, girls, alcohol, and….yeah – you know where he was getting at. Before Jinx, having a girlfriend to him was getting a gorgeous girl that is crazy about him enough to sleep with him over and over and over again. The only girl that made him feel a fraction of what he feels for Jinx was a reporter wannabe- Linda Park.
Yup, Linda. That Asian-American girl was supposed to be the love of his life. But when he tested her, tempted her, she had failed. He had set up an elaborate scheme to test her love for him and she barely passed, whereas, Jinx had passed with flying colors – heck, even if he didn't test her, he knew she loved him because she had let herself be converted. And when he ask some of his buddy (Speedy) to tempt Linda, she jumped on the opportunity without hesitation, whereas, Jinx had smacked the living daylights out of his buddy (Again, it was Speedy) when he tried to tempt her.
And the second one was this assassin called Snake. Snake was apparently a chic Jinx's age. There was no picture or description of her in her file which he had deemed dangerous. And he and Argent didn't share Snake's information to Jinx because they were afraid she would hunt down Snake – which is Jinx's nature to hunt down a girl more powerful than her and defeat that girl. But this Snake chic seemed more than dangerous because of her extensive records of successful assassinations and hidden massacres.
Kid Flash banked right at the connected hallways and heard a faint sound. He located that sound and sped to it, hiding in the shadows and staying hidden. He zoned in on the sound and heard words forming from the sounds.
"What are you doing, man?" There was this shrill voice that resonated from the area. Kid Flash peaked into the room silently and saw many men dressed in knitted hats, faded jeans, coat over jacket over shirts, and worn-out sneakers. There was one man sitting on a chair in front of a giant screen and another next to him, holding his shoulder to look at him in the eye.
"I'm tired of waiting" Said the one sitting as the other men turned to face the screen.
"What if Snake comes?" Said the one holding his shoulder, at the mention of her name, the other men cringed in terror.
"What if Snake doesn't come? What then, hmn?" Said another man entering inside the room from one of the many doors.
"Yeah, we'll just be waiting for nothing and we might not get the signal they'll send us" The man sitting said.
"And besides, we'll only be informing her faulty details" The one who had just entered the room and now has walked beside the man sitting said. He let the man sitting down press on the screen and out came a close up image of another man wearing a knitted hat with stubs of hair as his mustache and beard.
"Alright" The man who had been objecting finally agreed and turned to the screen. Kid Flash was about to listen in when he heard a rustle near him. He sped to another position and found men dressed in black guard the entrances. KF sped to locate other rooms just like that one with less security.
Why would this organization give off faulty information to one of their most dangerous asset? Kid Flash thought as he sped through the hallways. One thing's for sure, this Snake chic is hated by those villains, I wonder why…..
-With Jinx-
Infiltration of the warehouse, check. Installation of spy-tech, check. Preparations for Plan B, check. Commencing hiding in the shadows. Jinx's mind produced as she slipped quietly inside one of the rooms. This room was only had one thing inside, a computer. She silently hacked the computer, focusing on the icons on the screen and zoning in sounds around the room. Fifteen minutes went by, as she had finished hacking and collecting data from the computer. She checked her T-communicator and saw that all her spying devises were operational and collecting information. Suddenly, she heard whistling from the hallway and she quickly and quietly placed herself above the ceiling of the door – exiting the room from above as a whistling man opened the door and entered.
On the ceiling, she had found a ventilation system which she entered. As she silently crawled around the vents, she listened in on sounds conversing underneath. I almost forget how fun this is. She thought as she crawled more but froze when she suddenly heard a noise. Or how unnerving it is. She thought again as she dismissed the noise and continued to crawl.
IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG
The alarm system of the warehouse went off as she peaked underneath her and found Aqualad fighting many opponents. When she looked back in front of her, Cheshire was in front of her and had knocked her out of the vents. As soon as she landed, villains swarmed her – attacking her from all sides. She fought back the minor criminals as she fended off Cheshire from even scratching her.
-With Kid Flash-
IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG
The alarm system went off which startled me, making me trip on my own foot. As my body became visible again, swarms of villains attacked me from all sides. I fended them off and fought back.
-With Argent-
IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG
I heard an alarm go off and the warehouse came to full alert. I watched from the sky as swarms of villains searched for my teammates. I picked some stragglers off but I didn't attack many villains to not reveal my location. I bit my lip as a villain searched the sky for my presence, luckily for me, I blended in the background and they didn't spot me.
Argent. You are the most important person in this plan. You stay out of sight, alright. Jinx's words haunted me as I balled my fists trying to calm myself down.
You can do this, Argent. You can do this. I reassured myself and waited for the signal.
-With Aqualad-
IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG
Oh shit! I tripped the alarm. I thought as I had entered the warehouse through one of the many unnatural openings that suddenly appeared under the lake. As I looked around, many villains started to attack. I fought in hand-to-hand combat and maneuvered water to gush out and swept the villains away. While the water flooded the room and swept away the enemies, I heard a familiar voice screaming and saw Jinx being swept away too while fighting off Cheshire. I maneuvered the water that surrounded her to sprout up and she clung to the vent tubes while the villains where swept away. Cheshire tried to grab her but I made the wave behind her stronger and she was sent off.
When the water cleared off, Jinx somersaulted down from the vent tubes and glared at me.
"What?" I asked bewildered. "I saved your skin" I state as she walked past me and I followed her.
"Do you know how cats hate to get wet?" She asked as we kept walking or stealthily moving inside the warehouse.
"Yeah" I answered.
"Well, unlike a cat, I don't hate to get wet. But like a cat, I get angry when I suddenly get soaked" She denounced nonchalantly.
"Yeah, yeah. We should better find Kid Flash" I said changing the subject.
"We don't need to find him"
"Why?"
"Because we already did" She quietly said as we spotted a swarm of villains in an area.
Jinx used her powers and made pink energy plates at her feet and she started to walk upwards like she was going up stairs with her energy plates following her footstep. She made descending energy plates to the middle of the swarm and in an instant, beside her was Kid Flash himself.
With Kid Flash gone from the middle, the villains focused on me who was still on the ground and started to attack me. I put myself into a fighting stance but Jinx used her powers to make a pink energy plate from under my feet and levitated me towards them. My energy plate merged with theirs so that we were standing on a single pink levitating plate.
The villains tried to get to us but failed miserably since they had no powers or gadgets. They tried to hit us with weapons like guns and alike but their weapons were struck by arrows. We felt relieved and Jinx started to levitate us outside the facility.
"You're not going anywhere" We heard Cheshire shout as she pounced to and fro from objects to get leverage towards us. As she was about to reach our single energy plate, a pink glowing arrow struck her down and she fell to the ground.
We looked at Jinx whose eyes were starting to turn back to normal from glowing pink. "Don't worry. She'll live" She assured as and we went to where Argent was in the sky. At that point, fifteen arrows were shot in the vicinity and Argent covered the perimeter with a silver energy light much like Raven's.
-With Speedy-
IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG-IRNG
I heard the alarm go off and focused on the villains surrounding my teammates. I struck down a few criminals to lower my teammates' enemies.
I saw a pink energy glow from the middle of the air and assumed it was the others. I saw through the scope that weapons were being used and I accurately shot at each and every weapon.
Good. I thought as their weapons ceased to function even before they had a chance to use it. I saw through the scope that Cheshire was pouncing to and fro to get to my teammates. So I loaded an arrow to my crossbow and fired. I think Jinx saw my arrow before it had hit Cheshire since the arrow I fired glowed pink. The arrow struck down Cheshire in the stomach and had electrocuted her as she fell to the ground.
I noticed the pink glowing energy levitate off the perimeter and I took this as the signal. I shot fifteen exploding arrows to different parts of the warehouse and a silver energy formed a dome around it. My arrows exploded and set off a chain reaction on the tiny bombs Jinx had planted. As the warehouse became a inferno, The others levitated towards me and we headed back to the cave.
-Elsewhere-
"Tell us who you are!" Robin shouted as the person he shouted at stared nonchalantly into space. He, Starfire, Kole, and Jericho were hiding inside a deserted apartment building. And in front of him was a girl with blue hair, blue snake-like eyes, and very pale skin dressed in orange clothing sitting in front of him with her hands tied behind her back.
"Please, Robin. Be gentle with her" Starfire said as she placed a hand on a seething Robin's shoulder. Kole and Jericho stood there, staring at the tied up girl. Starfire turned to look at the girl and walked closer.
"Hello, mysterious earth girl with blue snake-like eyes. Can you tell us your name, please" Stafire said clasping her hands together to emphasis her pleading. At this point, the girl who was tied up glared at her – this girl seemed to be at least 18 years old.
The girl suddenly cracked a genuine looking smile from her lips. "Alright, since you asked nicely" She said and her tied up hands came free and she stood up. "People call me Snake" She said as she offered a hand to shake with Starfire. The people in front of her were dumbfounded. This girl who was tied up by one of Robin's durable equipments a while ago offered a hand to Starfire.
Starfire shook off the shock and took the hand that was being offered to her. They both shook hands and Starfire hugged the girl. "It is so nice to meet you, friend Snake!" Starfire exclaimed.
"Starfire, don't be so trusting of her yet. We still don't know anything about her" Robin said skeptically as Starfire peeled herself off the girl.
"But Robin, she has not attacked us since she had been with us" Starfire said defending her new found friend.
"Starfire" Kole spoke up as Jericho signed what he wanted to say. "Jericho says that we still don't know if she's on our side but it's comforting that she hasn't attacked us the whole time that we caught her" Kole spoke for Jericho.
"I have an idea. Jericho, use your powers on her" Robin said and Jericho nodded as he maneuvered towards the girl.
"Wait, we still do not have her consent about this" Starfire pointed out.
"No it's okay, Starfire right? He can use his powers on me but before that, what is his powers anyway?" Snake spoke up. With that, Jericho pointed to his eyes then to Snake's eyes.
"Oh! Okay then" Snake said and stared at Jericho's eyes as he used his powers to enter her body. A minute later, Jericho's body tensed up signaling that he was done. He looked shaken from what he saw but made a thumbs-up indicating that she wasn't bad at all.
"There! You see, Robin! She is not bad after all" Starfire stated as she watched Robin walk closer to the blue haired girl.
"You're name is Snake, right?" Robin asked.
"Uh-huh" Snake replied.
"If I'm correct, the infamous assassin who killed thousands of people with stealth is you" Robin said glaring at the girl. Suddenly, the ground below them shook violently and they all stumbled for balance. After that, a huge explosion happened nearby to their right.
"They're coming" Snake announced as she glared to her right where the explosion has occurred.
Nene: Hello! I fumbled a bit on how I wanted this story to go and I made it into a Saga pertaining Jinx!