Chapter 9:
Sorry this is late, college sucks.
Blah, blah, blah.
I'm not giving up! Thank you for all the reviews and not ditching this story, even though I'm such a sucky author who updates after months have past! All your reviews really keep me going, and if it weren't for you guys, I would have probably given up a long time ago. I'm sorry that you have to put up with all these slow updates D:
So thank you all so much for your support!
(ALSO PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END!)
"Blah"- talking
'Blah'- mindlink/sign language
Blah- thoughts
Enjoy~
Jinx was flabbergasted. So flabbergasted that she doesn't even think she has ever used the word flabbergasted before in her entire life. But here she was, mouth agape and eyes widened to its full capacity. Flabbergasted felt like an understatement.
She never thought she would come face-to-face with her close-well, used-to-be close friend from back in her HIVE Academy days. She should have expected their paths to cross at least once in their lifetimes, especially knowing Jinx's luck. This couldn't have happened a better time. After all, Cheshire was one of the first villains of the Brotherhood of Evil to be unfrozen. Seeing the familiar cat mask, Jinx finds herself being pulled back by a sea of memories...She shakes her head, willing the memories of their former friendship to stay in the darkest depths of her mind. She does not deserve to call Cheshire her friend anymore. Jinx had betrayed her; their previous friendship has long been destroyed. They fought on different sides now.
They were enemies.
I guess this is that rare path-crossing moment… Jinx cursed inwardly as she picked herself off the ground, wiping the blood from her cut lip. She winces at the sting of the cut and the throbbing of her cheek. That's definitely going to leave a bruise..
"Jinx, you're not supposed to be her-" Kid Flash makes a move toward Jinx, but Gizmo intercepted his path.
"Nuh uh, no interrupting our heartfelt reunion!" Gizmo snidely remarks before pushing a button on the remote in his hands. Kid Flash tries to grab Gizmo, but a giant hand stops Kid's own arm from getting to him. He is lifted up by the arm without much effort as he tries struggles against the strong grip. Kid Flash turns his head to see Mammoth's arrogant smirk, who is holding him up with one hand, while carrying an unconscious Superboy on his shoulder.
"Let me go! What are you-" Before Jinx could react, Kid Flash sailing through the air and is knocked into Robin and Kaldur, who have come to save Kid from Mammoth's clutches. Superboy is thrown not too long after, knocking down Miss Martian and Artemis as he went in the process. Suddenly, a green, electromagnetic force field is erected from the ground in front of the heroes, separating them from Jinx and the villains.
Fighting off the many limbs he was tangled in, Kid Flash burst free of his teammates and runs to the force field. "NO!" Kid Flash yells, banging his fists onto the force field.
"Kid-" She reaches over to him, but her eyes flash pink again, and she barely manages to avoid the array of knives thrown at her. She returns her attention back over to the masked vigilante, who procures more throwing knives from her suit.
"Poor Lucky. What? Do you get separation anxiety when you're away from your boyfriend for too long?" Cheshire chides, stalking her way to Jinx, looking like a lion ready to pounce on its prey. "Why don't you keep your attention to what's in front of you? I get jealous easily..." Cheshire jumps into a spin kick, but Jinx manages to roll away from her in time.
"Cheshire...I'd say it's good to see you again...But it's not. So..." She narrowly evades a dagger being swiped at her. "I see you're still pissed about the whole changing-over-to-the-good-side thing, huh?"
"Oh, don't be so full of yourself. I'm just embracing the role I was destined to inherit," Cheshire swings another blade Jinx's way, but Jinx is able to duck and side-sweeps Cheshire's legs. Cheshire manages to catch herself from the fall by spring-boarding backwards, landing in a crouched position. "Better than pretending to be a fraud like you've become."
Jinx inwardly snarls at Cheshire's mocking tone, but refuses to let that anger show on her face. She doesn't want to give Cheshire the benefit to know that her words are getting on Jinx's nerves… "I've decided to become something better than the lowly, pathetic criminal I used to be." Though she tried to sound as convincing as she could, her words come out as a tired gasp rather than its intentional conviction. Three weeks of doing nothing started to have an effect of her as she felt herself grow exhausted from all her movements. Damn, I'm really out of shape…
In an effort to preserve energy, she was relying only on her physical abilities rather than on her power, which used up most of her energy. Jinx threw some punches and kicks here and there, but even she knew how sloppy they must have looked. Cheshire managed to land another blow to Jinx's face, making Jinx tumble over herself from the impact. Her muscles screamed from exhaustion, but she tried to lift herself up by her elbows, her arms trembling with exertion.
A chilling, familiar cackle resounds from above her. "Well, looky here. Seems like the shining hero has regressed to a major zero since the last time we've seen her." She looks up and meets the one eye of her old friend/teammate. See-more looked exactly as he did when she last saw him, angry and betrayed.
Before she could escape him, he used his eye to pick her up from the ground and engulfing her in a giant fist made by his eye. He slams her to a wall, where Gizmo throws a small circular object at her, encasing her body in an electromagnetic net, which sends shockwaves to incapacitate her. Jinx screams, the pain reaching every fiber in her body. After a few seconds, the pain fades, leaving Jinx too exhausted to fight against the net. The HIVE Five surround her, their faces smug, minus Kyd Wykkyd who kept his stoic expression, as if they had already won the fight. "What's wrong, Jinx?" See-more asked. His one eye closed, and, when he opened his eye again, it had changed into a sinister red color.
"I guess those goodie-two-shoes heroes turned you into such a weakling."
Kid Flash bangs on the electromagnetic force field before him in aggravation. "Dammit!" Gizmo is the only one who turns around at the sound of Kid Flash's anguish. The boy genius floats over to the force field, quirking an eyebrow at Kid Flash, as if he were just seeing Kid Flash for the first time today. Something in his mind clicks, and Gizmo couldn't help but gape at the red and yellow superhero. "No way! You're that same crud-muncher that convinced Jinx to go good? I thought you were just some poser…" He looks Kid Flash up and down. "But you're the real deal just with different eyes. What? Got colored contacts or something?" Kid Flash bangs on the force field even harder, ignoring the villain's words.
"Gizmo, you better let us out, or so help me I will-"
Gizmo's eyes narrow, confusion etched onto his face. "This force field shouldn't even be ten times strong enough to inhibit your powers." He waves over at the others who also seem to be trying to break the force field. "Them? Maybe..." He returns his gaze to Kid Flash, pointing a finger at the speedster. "...but not against your vibrating molecules. So why do you have such a panicked look on your face?" Kid Flash puts both hands on the force field, his face straining with concentration, looking more and more frustrated as nothing happens. Kid Flash bangs on the force field harder when he realized nothing happened.
A theory pops into the boy genius's head. Gizmo's lips curl into a sneer, floating a bit higher so that he was face-to-face with Kid Flash. "Is it because you can't use your powers to its fullest like you used to?" Kid Flash pales at this revelation, and Gizmo snickers as though he was just told the most hilarious joke in the world, which is not far from it. "Well, isn't this our lucky day? Things just got a whole lot more interesting." He extracted his spider-legs from his backpack and took a few steps back from the trapped heroes. "Have fun trapped in there, snot-brains!" The boy genius shouts over his shoulder, sticking his tongue out a second after.
Kid Flash bangs one fist at the force field again, but this time in anger for his own incompetence.
"Looky here! We just caught us the traitor!" Billy mocks, multiplying himself. "Ha ha ha! Good one, Billy!" A clone guffawed, linking an arm around the other Billy's neck. "Thanks, Billy!" The main Billy said, making Jinx roll her eyes. Even after all these years, Billy Numerous still liked to talk to himself. Literally.
The HIVE Five have aged quite a bit since the last time she has seen them three years before. With the exception of Mammoth, who was still a hulking giant. Billy Numerous and See-more both managed to go from being scrawny teens to lean-muscled young men. Even Kyd Wykkyd had grown a little more bulkier, though, he was still smaller compared to the older two guys. The biggest difference was Gizmo, who's used-to-be-bald head now sported shaggy black hair and was no longer the midget he used to be. In fact, he had shot up at least three feet taller than she remembered. His voice had gotten a lot deeper, more tolerable and fitting for his age than his shrilling, high-pitched, child voice.
Her heart aches at the sight of them. "Let me go...Idiots..." Jinx mumbles through a few shaky breaths. She couldn't black out here, they wouldn't hesitate to take her back to Slade, and then she will have no choice but to bend to his will.
"Can't do that, Lucky." Cheshire says as the HIVE Five made way for her to walk.
She tried to keep her head up, but she was getting a bit light-headed. "Why are you trying to give me to Slade? Aren't we friends?"
Cheshire let out a dark chuckle. "That friendship ended when you switched sides to join your little boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend!" Jinx yelled a little too fast. She cleared her throat, then added, "And that's not the reason I switched sides."
"Oh? And now you're going to tell me that Billy Numerous finally started growing a brain." Cheshire taunted as Billy let out a loud, defensive 'HEY!'. She glared at the pink-haired girl. "Everyone knows that after he came along, you couldn't even steal candy from a child anymore. You even left your team then show up on their side at the Brotherhood of Evil fight. Which, I might add, was a waste of time."
"He's not the reason. But he helped. He got me thinking." Jinx explained, "Besides, I'm not the type of girl who just switches sides for some guy! I knew I could do something better. I knew I could finally prove Madame Rubberband that I could do- no be something better." Jinx smiled confidently. "I am a hero now. And I'm damn sure that I'm better than I ever was before."
It was silent for a moment before Cheshire laughed at her. "You're such a foolish girl, Jinx. A weak, pathetic, foolish girl." Cheshire shook her head, and stood up. She took out a knife from her pocket. "My only friend. Betraying me." Something wavered in her voice. Cheshire almost sounded...Hurt. Cheshire shakes her head. "But life goes on, and people change."
"You could do better than this too." Jinx reasoned, but Cheshire only laughed again.
"You can't get me to switch. I am not like you." She spat as she took a step back. Her eyes narrowed as Jinx frowned.
"But in ways, you are." Jinx smiled a bit. "We both turned to villainy to escape our horrible lives. We left our pasts behind and looked toward the future. A future filled with promised success. Life was always survival of the fittest."
"Exactly. And right now, I'm doing what I can to survive."
Jinx scoffed. "You and I both know you were only trying to prove something." Cheshire gripped the knife handle so hard that she feared it could break in half. "Or just trying to protect someone. You told me you were trying to take down your father. That's why you left your sister."
Cheshire froze, tensing up. If it were not for her mask, Jinx would have noticed Cheshire's brief glance over to the trapped heroes, namely over at Artemis, who tenses up at the word 'sister', looking over at the masked vigilante with mixed emotions. Was this true?
"I left my sister because I couldn't take always having to wait for one of my parents to come back home from prison." Cheshire says with a leveled voice.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." Jinx mutters.
Cheshire scoffs. "That was all in the past, and I'd like for it to stay in the past." Cheshire takes a step back. "This was a nice chat, but I have a job to finish. So if you don't mind..." Cheshire snapped her fingers and the entire HIVE Five stood up straighter and at attention.
All their eyes flashed red, and Jinx perks up at the sight of it. She's only seen that happen once before. Hell, she even has experience of going through it…In her shock, Jinx was too out of it to even notice that one member of the HIVE Five seemed to be missing. "Wait a second, you guys are being-"
She didn't even have to finish her sentence because an arrow stepped into Cheshire's path, exploding with smoke until it filled the room completely.
"What's happening right now?" Superboy asks, watching as the room fills with smoke.
"Up there!" Miss Martian points up to one of the ceiling beams. "It's Red Arrow!"
Artemis lets out a relieved chuckle. "I was wondering where that guy went…"
"That's all fine and dandy, but how are we going to get out of this thing?" Kid Flash asks, gesturing to the force field wall in front of them.
Robin types furiously on the virtual keyboard at his wrist. "The only way to deactivate the wall is if we had Gizmo's remote." He clicks his tongue, letting the keyboard dissipate. "Gizmo put up too many firewalls up for me to hack through."
"How are we-" Kaldur's words are interrupted by a gentle tap on the force field wall. The heroes turn their heads to see Kyd Wykkyd standing on the other side of the wall. The bat look-alike swishes his cape over his body before disappearing and reappearing in front of the young heroes on the other side of the force field wall. Wykkyd starts making hand gestures, which confuses most of the young heroes.
"What's he saying?" Superboy asks as Kyd Wykkyd's hand gestures grow more frantic.
Kid Flash's eyebrows furrow as his mind processes Kyd Wykkyd's hand gestures. "...What do you mean, 'no time, hold hands'?" the red-headed speedster asks, weary of the bat look-alike's intentions. "'Go, two by two.'? What are you talking about…"
"You can understand him?" Artemis asks in surprise.
Kid Flash's eyes don't even leave Kyd Wykkyd as he answers back, "It's something you pick up when you live with a mute guy for a year." Wykkyd continues to do more gestures before lifting up his cape and flapping it for emphasis. Kid Flash's eyes widen as if a lightbulb goes off in his head. He purses his lips before reaching a conclusion. "...This is only a temporary truce, okay? I'm going to trust you, but if you double-cross us, I'm going to do much worse than put you in jail after this is all over." A small smile twitches on Wykkyd's lips as he gives Kid an affirming nod before grabbing onto his hand. Kid faces his teammates. "Everyone grab a partner! We're going into his cape by two's! Hurry, there's not much time left until the smoke disappears!"
Artemis frowns. "Did you just say we're going into his cape?"
Another arrow from above shoots down and pierces the net surrounding Jinx, cracking its exterior before crumbling to pieces.
Jinx falls to her knees, trying to cough out the smoke she managed to inhale. She squints her eyes, trying to see past the smoke filling the room. A hand touches hers and she flinches at the contact. She looks over to see Menos grasping her hand, his other one holding Mas's. "Shhh, Señorita Jinx, hemos llegado a rescatarte! (Shhh, Miss Jinx, we've come to rescue you!)"
Mas gives Jinx a cheeky grin. "No se preocupe, sus príncipes valientes han llegado! (Don't worry, your valiant princes have arrived!)"
Jinx's legs trembled with exhaustion. She doesn't think she can stand up on her own. She leans against Menos for support. "Glad you guys got taller. I wouldn't have been able to lean against you guys like this before." Her vision was blurring, and it was only a matter of time before she would pass out.
"Trate de despertar, está siendo muy rápido, no muy fuerte a nuestro alcance. (Try to awake, our power is being really fast not very strong.)" Menos whined, struggling to hold her up. The two speedsters flash out of the building and carry her back to Mount Justice. But the speed they were going at, just made her feel nauseous and light-headed.
And so, Jinx blacks out.
When the smoke dissipates, the villains immediately notice the absence of their captive, young heroes. Cheshire hits her fist against the wall in frustration. "Dammit…" She mutters under her breath.
"What should we do now, Cheshire?" See-more asks, a hint of fear tinged in his voice. They all knew this mission was now deemed a failure, and they would all have to face the punishment Slade most likely had planned for them. That thought made her even angrier at herself. She let this happen. Let herself be swayed by the emotions of the past. Now she was the one who would pay the consequences…
"Return to base and let Master Slade know what we have learned today."
"That you have daddy issues or that Jinx is still in love with that farts-for-brains Titan?" Billy asks, with a silent Kyd Wykkyd trailing closely behind him. Their hands brush together; it's subtle but only Kyd seems to take notice. He forces down the blush that threatens to consume his face, while Billy gives him a teasing grin.
"No, you dimwit," Her voice was clear and condescending. "We have a lead now, a big one. If she's hanging around that Team, I may know how to track them down."
"I may have found out something that might pique Master Slade's interest," Gizmo adds with a mischievous sneer. "And it has to do with Jinx's loverboy."
'You okay?' Billy signs. They had just reached the base when Billy had stopped Kyd to ask him this sudden question. The hand on his arm brought a shiver to Kyd's spine, and he hoped the cloning man wouldn't notice. As far as Kyd could tell, Billy didn't.
'Peachy.' Kyd signs back with a small smile. Billy pauses to inspect Kyd's face before returning his smile. He removes his hand from the bat look-alike's arm and heads inside the base. Once he was left alone, Kyd's smile falls as he places a hand over his arm, relinquishing in the warmth left by Billy's hand.
This Billy wasn't his Billy, just as his friends weren't his friends anymore. This Billy was being controlled by a cruel man. This Billy didn't even know he was being controlled by a monster.
But he knew. And he's going to save them.
Sorry that this chapter is short. Wanted to just remind people that I'm not dead nor am I giving up on this fic. But just know, this is very unedited and not proofread, so there may be sloppy mistakes in there. I'd find a beta-reader, but I'm just too lazy... Also, this story is now available on archiveofourown (Ao3), so if you prefer that website more, you can check this story out over on there! The username is the same, so it shouldn't be that hard to find.
And if any of you have a Tumblr, you can follow me at the-young-writer101 for maybe some updates and news about my fanfic writing and original writing as well if you're interested! Send me messages too if you're curious about something, my inbox is always open!
SO that random pairing at the end (Billy Numerous x Kyd Wykkyd). It kind of just hit me, while I was writing this chapter. I just found it so cute in my head that I couldn't help myself. You may see a more in depth relationship in a one-shot or something. I wasn't planning on adding that ship, seeing as its nonexistent and all, but I decided to just screw it and write about it to my heart's content.
I apologize to any of the followers I lose who is offended by M/M romance, but I find it adorable, so you can't stop me from writing about it.
Anyways, you know the drill. R&R~!
~Superbluestar428