Chapter seven

The two took a rather long time getting home without the aid of Wally's super speed, but they weren't in any mood to complain. They eventually did make their way back to the hideout, end entered to find an unexpected guest.

"Okay, but how did getting caught in a sonic tumbler make him lose his hand?" Asked Jinx as she and Wally entered his home.

"You know, not a day goes by I don't ask myself the same question."

They both laughed and walked around the stadium into the commons section.

"Wally?" called out an unknown voice from down the bedrooms.

Wally stiffened as he recognized the voice.

"Wally, that you?"
The voice got closer, and from the bedroom halls, a boy with a black leather jacket and an S emblem t-shirt entered the scene.

"I was wondering where you- oh." Super Boy was surprised to see the girl standing next to his friend.

"Uhhh. Conner, this is Jinx." He said; an awkward blush spreading across both he and Jinx's faces.

"Hi." She said.

Super boy's brow furrowed.

"KF, why is there unauthorized personal in the head quarters?" he asked. "And why are you out of costume?"

"Conner, it's cool, she's a hero." Wally explained.

Jinx's expression softened, but was also sad. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't done much heroics recently.

"Yeah, well I was just dropping off my bike in the garage before I head out again. Won't need it where I'm going." Explained Super Boy.

"Ah, I can always look forward to monthly visits from my favorite Kryptonian, can't I?" Wally said with such biting sarcasm Jinx couldn't help but giggle.

Super Boy rolled his eyes at the comment. "Keep an eye on things." He said before flying out the door.

Wally let out a sigh of relief. He turned to Jinx.

"Sorry about that, he can be kind of super cop sometimes." He said.

He then noticed the hint of sadness in her eyes that she so desperately tried to conceal.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"You called me a hero, but…"

"But what?"

"I don't deserve to be called one." She finally said.

She was stunned to hear Wally laughing. "Why are you laughing?" she asked; slightly miffed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just; how can you think you're not a hero?" he said.

Jinx wasn't sure how she should answer, so she just gave Wally a confuse stare.

"It's apparent that you're not a villain anymore, and you proved your heroics by saving me. You do little things all the time to be a hero."

"But, I couldn't even go with you to take out that God's Eye guy"

"You don't need to take out super villains to be a super hero." He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You've already done a heroic feat by the end of every day."

"Like what?"

Wally had an answer, but he didn't want to give it to her just yet.

"You'll find out."

"Wally, now's not the time to be cryptic."

"Perhaps not, but do you know what time it is for?"

"Ugh, what?"

"Dinner!" he rushed off to the kitchen leaving Jinx pouting about her situation.

"Wally! I will not let you dodge this!" she called.

"Okay, but can we postpone it for supper? I'm thinking Italian." He replied.

Jinx was about to say something, but she realized that she was rather hungry.

"Ugh, fine but, this isn't over." She reluctantly said.

"That's the spirit." He began to lay out the necessary ingredients for the dish he had planned and started cooking.

Jinx waited at the table and simply watched as Wally cooked with a cheerful expression on his face. She felt her anger at him slowly subside for some reason. It seemed she simply couldn't be angry at someone who looked so content with himself. Ugh, what is it about him that makes me feel like this? She thought. I mean, all he's done is taken me into his home, let me eat his food, and hasn't said a single negative thing about, well, anything. And it just leaves me wondering 'why?' Try as she might, she just couldn't figure out what it was about him, or what it was about her that made him act this way. In her deep state of thought, she also hadn't realized that Wally had finished cooking dinner for the two of them.

Two plates of spaghetti with garnish were laid out on the table by non-other-than a jubilant Wallace West.

"Dig in." he announced.

He started to eat his well-prepared food with glee, but stopped as he noticed Jinx wasn't eating.

"There something wrong?" he asked.

There wasn't anything 'wrong' to Jinx, but she desperately needed an answer to a very important question.

"Can I ask you something?" She began.

"Anything." He replied.

She inhaled deeply. "Why… why did you give me a second chance?"

"What?"

"Out of all the villains that you could have 'converted' or whatever, why did you pick me?" The sincerity in her eyes made Wally hesitate.

He thought for a moment, but came up with what he thought would be an acceptable answer.

"Well, I'd seen you doing your crimes before, and while you seemed to be enjoying yourself, it also seemed like there was something looming over you. You didn't have that ruthless look in your eye like your cronies." He looked at Jinx and smiled with relief as she started eating when he began to speak.

"See, with all the time I have on my hands, I've gotten pretty god at reading people, and the way your head worked seemed to be different from the others. They were just a bunch of petty crooks, but you did what you did for respect, or recognition. And I think that you think you need respect, because someone told you that you didn't deserve it, and you always thought that the only way to get it would be to take it yourself."

Jinx's eyes widened with every word, as if she was coming to some sort of realization.

"And that led you to do what you could to get what you wanted, but that you could never earn." Wally began to blush. "And I thought you just needed someone to tell you that you did deserve it, and could earn it. And, you know, I wanted to be the person to tell you." He looked away, failing to hide his blush.

Jinx blushed as well. Despite that, she knew he was right. Down to every detail. After all the suffering and abuse she had suffered, she believed she didn't deserve respect. Then, when Brother Blood showed up, she believed she would have to take it. Years went by, and all it took was some goof ball in spandex to help her realize how wrong she had been.

"Wow. Th-that's really, uh, profound." She said, blushing equally as brightly as Wally.

"Yeah, well, you know." He rubbed the back of his head nervously.

They both stared at their still relatively full plate.

"You know…"

"I'm not to hungry either" Wally took the plates and dumped the contents into the disposal.

"Maybe we should call it a night." Wally suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Jinx got up and headed to her room. Wally did much of the same.