Prey Mate

by Lynx Klaw

Raven's second heat is upon her, and she has been forced to her extremity. This time, she allows her Demonic instincts to come to the fore. Raven is on the prowl... Who might catch her eye, and what will she do when that happens? The paths of Fate that open as a result take the entire world by surprise.

10. Chapter 10

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"...love will find its way / Through paths where wolves would fear to prey..."

-Lord Byron, The Giaour

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Prey Mate

by

Lynx Klaw

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Chapter 10

~§~

-=Kamala=-

Jinx settled into the routine of checking on everything while assisting wherever necessary. Technically, she wasn't needed to help out at all—she was one woman, after all. However, she saw how many eyes tracked her. She had helped more than half of these young Metas out of that Hell, and it seemed that they were placing some modicum of trust in her. They needed to know that it was safe with these strangers—ones that weren't guards, but weren't Metas or prisoners like them.

She had received word that the rest of the HIVE Kids were inbound; would probably be here just after lunch. Kamala couldn't even begin to contemplate what must be going through Customs' minds. That many unique individuals weren't something Bihar had ever had to handle, and possibly would never handle again.

So, while she waited on her family, she did small things. Sometimes Jinx ferried this or that item to this or that doctor checking out some kid or another. Other times, she took information down on impromptu forms they were creating for various treatments required. She did any of a hundred tasks over the next few hours, and it was just like her. Mercenaries had to have a wide variety of skills and the ability to adapt. This was a different application of that job, but not one beyond her.

When lunchtime finally rolled around, she found herself eating quickly. She wasn't sure if her brothers and sisters would be early, but she wanted to be free when they arrived. It might take a bit of explaining to get them to appreciate the situation fully, but she wanted to be the one giving that short briefing.

The media was crammed up to the yellow tape, everyone trying to get as much footage of the children, her, or the League as they could. After initial statements were made, very little was given to the press as everyone focused on the children. Honestly, it wasn't terribly exciting. The work bordered on monotonous, but it needed to be done.

She eventually tuned out the media; their camera flashes and clicks no longer drew her attention—for some reason expecting one of them to be a muzzle flash at some point. Their voices turned dull and echoed distantly as they reported in various languages that melted into a verbal sludge over there, because the only important talk was happening on this side of the tape.

Having scarfed down her food, the hex-caster had meandered absently for a bit, checking that the children were eating. It still worried her that they might just stop if something spooked them. Eventually, she wound up back by her tent, where Raven was finishing up her own meal. Her mate resided on a rather large, displaced boulder—likely from Raven's uprooting of the IMRO. Jinx joined her there, staring out over the masses of tents and considering the future held beneath them. Somehow, and she suspected Raven might have floated it into her hands just to distract her, Kamala wound up holding her sitar.

The moment she began plucking a few cords, she noticed an aggregation of kids—some still holding their meals—flocking around the rock. Okay, she could do this. It seemed more purposeful than it did back in Jump. There had never been any music at the IMRO. How many years had it been since they had heard so much as a hummed bar? The thought compacted around her heart and she felt her eyes mist just a little, but ignored it as she decided on a slow, plodding set of chords.

After a couple repetitions, she overlaid elongated bars of lyrics in a soft but carrying voice, "Darkness walks in front of you... Can't get through... Why are you escaping... nothing?" Almost immediately, she transitioned into the chorus, her voice raising but never growing harsher. This song never really left that softness, which is why she had taken notice of it a while back. "Will you ever... see the world as I do? We're here today... Don't let that slip away from you."

The next part felt pertinent in several ways she didn't feel like analyzing in any detail; it might depress her. She could never sing while depressed; it was almost easy while angry, but depression simply stifled Jinx. Her voice always came out dull and without passion. She drew a breath and continued into the second part of the short song.

"We're not here to crush you... Like they do... Who you were is still there... somewhere," she sang it like an assurance to everyone, trying to pour her hope into them through the song. Raven had said they hadn't been broken, that it would just take time. Maybe this could help in some small way. She urged them on with her voice, "Will you ever... see the world as I do? We're here today... Don't let that slip away from you."

Gentle of voice, she cautioned them through the lyrics as well as from personal experience, "Alone... Don't listen to... the voices in your head... Alone... Don't listen to... the voices in your head..."

Kamala opened her eyes, just then becoming aware that they had closed and having no idea when she'd done so. The crowd had grown—no longer just the children. Many of the relief aid and Dark Way assistance who had taken their lunch breaks were also listening. Her eyes swept over them quietly for a moment, then moved beyond them and to her left, where she could see most of the news crew had gone silent, as well.

Jinx wasn't sure if she was comfortable with this kind of publicity. Even in Jump, she didn't have the kind of notoriety that this was likely to bring. Still, she wasn't doing this for the media and they could go screw themselves as far as she was concerned. She was singing for the kids—and she pushed herself into some new material.

This one was something she had been kicking around solo; had intended to bring it up to Nin, Terry, and Darryl last week once she felt she had it down. Of course, the mission and this current debacle had put a damper on those plans. There was no reason not to debut it now.

Because the song required quite a few complicated and mixed chords—more suited to being played with multiple instruments—she slowed it down so that she could put in all the intricacies she wanted, "When this began—I had nothing to say; And I get lost in the nothingness inside of me. I was confused—And I let it all out to find; That I'm not the only person with these things in mind. Inside of me—But all that they can see the words revealed; Is the only real thing that I've got left to feel. Nothing to lose—Just stuck, hollow and alone; And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own."

The chorus felt more useful and this time, she didn't keep herself soft. Kamala belted out the lyrics clear across the camp as loudly as she wished, "I wanna heal, I wanna feel—what I thought was never real! I wanna let go the pain I've felt so long—Erase all the pain 'til it's gone. I wanna heal, I wanna feel—like I'm close to something real! I wanna find something I've wanted all along: Somewhere I belong!"

The song almost felt like it was ripping out of her, and Kammie surprised herself with both the vehemence and the emotion behind the song. The words came to her with new gravity and she almost wanted to stop in the middle, unable to bear actually saying the words. It was too personal, too private for so many people to hear—for them to pick it apart and use it to psychoanalyze her. However, like many things in the past 72 hours, she needed to do this; the words needed to be spoken, even if it was in the form of a song.

After she had finished, she felt Raven brushing at her mind. Soothing waves hit her and slowly drained the tension from her shoulders. Even so, she could feel the eyes of the Press and the relief aid workers and Dark Way staff and everyone on her. They weren't a part of this, and suddenly the position became acutely uncomfortable. Kamala jumped down from the rock—on the side that put it between herself and the reporters—and meandered back to the tent she and Raven had shared last night. After stashing her sitar, she sequestered herself deep within the forest of tents.

A worried, vague questioning feeling came to her, and she bundled a small packet of thoughts toward Raven, 'I'm fine... I just don't want to answer any questions, right now. I don't want to hear the comments or anything.'

'Perhaps you should; you're receiving some pretty high praise back this way.'

Kamala shrugged, wondering if that particular gesture had a mental equivalent—and how one might convey it, 'Sure the vulture's aren't picking it over? Trying to turn it into a statement or something?'

'On that, I can't be sure... but Germany's reporter is passing you off as the next American Idol.'

That made Jinx smirk a little. She continued to wander somewhat aimlessly and soon found herself entering the main tent where the command center of this whole operation sprouted up. Kamala slowed as she heard them discussing her. She supposed it was better than them discussing Raven, but she didn't quite care to be the topic of a League discussion when she wasn't there to defend herself if necessary. Batman was looking right at her—he hadn't missed her entry as everyone else had.

"-some voice on her. You see how they look to her? They follow her lead like sheep to a shepherd." Green Lantern sighed, "They don't respond to anyone else like that. Hell, they look at me like I'm the wolf walkin' among 'em."

Kamala decided it was time to speak for herself, "For good reason." John Stewart's shoulders convulsively bunched, but quickly relaxed as he turned around. His posture was stiff, formal..., organized. She could have picked him out of a crowd easily, "It's rather obvious. You're ex-military?"

The others moved from their little semi-circle, broadened to include her. It was quaint, but she still wasn't comfortable. They may treat her like an equal, but she knew they considered her an outsider—a wild card. It was the truth, so she didn't let it bother her.

"Ex-marine," John answered.

"Yeah... you're a soldier at heart. I've seen you around the camp in the past couple hours. You move like a guard; body screams it." He looked uncomfortable and shifted. For a second, it looked like the Lantern was about to put his hands behind his back, but forced them to remain at his sides in a rigid approximation of nonchalance. She motioned to the way he stood, "The set of your shoulders, the way you turn your head... And that careful way you keep your feet at shoulder width—at ease—to seem nonthreatening...? It doesn't work." Kamala shook her head at the futility of his gestures; it was like waving a knife around while insisting you weren't going to hurt anyone. "You don't walk, you patrol. You don't check on them, you make the rounds. You're a guard.

"...We don't respond very well to guards."

"You have any suggestions?" he asked.

Kamala leaned against a support post making up the large tent's door, "Not really. I'm not the best person to ask about authority figures, obviously. And, honestly, I don't think we should. Those kids are gonna have to face it someday, so they might as well get used to the idea that not all guards are prison guards, and even then... not all prison guards are like the IMRO. I mean, I spent some time in Jump Correctional. Those guys—they're alright. They do their duties, and sometimes they'll even talk to ya. Tha's why, whenever I used to break out, I'd never lash out at the guards on my way out.

"I mean, logistically, I was gonna see 'em again as long as the Titans were around and Blood kept sending us out on stupid heists. It didn't pay to piss off your landlords, yeah?" The pink-haired mercenary canted her head as she regarded him. "Honestly? Just keep doing what you're doing. Mean well, sow the seeds of good will, and treat 'em like people. It's more than they ever got from any guards they've ever known. Ya never know—some of them might come around; it's the best we can hope for. You won't be doing them any favors pretending to be something else..."

~§~

-=Richard=-

"Jinx," Nightwing stepped into the conversation and redirected it, "you ever find out just what the IMRO is?"

She grinned at him in that way she had when he first asked who she was. He wondered just what she was going to shock him with next. Batman was probably the only other person to pick up on what her expression meant.

"Oh, yeah. I asked the Warden himself. 's funny; I thought I'd killed 'im all those years ago when I got out. Turns out he's been alive all this time, posing as a Mason Verger doppleganger." Jinx huffed out an amused breath, "Stupid fucker had a chance to order one of his guards to off me, but he just had to gloat in my face, y'know? Monologuing—guess it's not just a super-villain thing, yeah?" That was when the hex-caster's grin widened. "I managed to get him to answer your question outright. So it turns out the IMRO is the Indian Metahuman Response Organization. Sounds... official, doesn't it?"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa," Flash interrupted, "You telling me the Indian government might have knowingly funded this... thing?"

"You telling me that the American government might have knowingly funded Waller's Project Cadmus—or her new baby, Checkmate?"

He saw the various relaxed stances shift. John straightened, his arms crossing. Ollie's arms uncrossed and fell to his sides. Shayera sat up off the table. He could see Jinx taking notice of this, and she quirked a brow at the Flash who—for a few amazing seconds—stood stock-still.

J'onn was the first to recover and respond, "You know quite a bit more than expected. I think we are all interested in how you came across such information."

"Well-..." Jinx paused, a distracted and distant expression crossing her face for a few moments before she frowned, "Raven is advising I not answer that."

"And why would that be?" Green Lantern asked.

Jinx's grin made Dick internally groan—this was going to stir controversy, he just knew it, "Apparently, my response would have been anatomically impossible for everyone but My Favorite Martian, here."

Nightwing rubbed the bridge of his nose over his mask. He noted Batman's eyes narrowing just slightly. It wasn't the Bat-glare, but that look he got when someone rarely confounded him—however briefly.

The Dark Knight spoke up, "Which, while it is an admirable diversion, still doesn't answer the question."

"Nope," Jinx answered simply, "I guess it doesn't."

With a soft smile that was only half-apologetic, the whimsical witch turned to leave. Only two steps out, she paused to look over her shoulder. "Oh, maybe we could get together later—we could have a chat. I might even tell you a few secrets... for a price."

Bruce nodded at her thoughtfully, "We'll talk later."

Jinx sauntered off, leaving them alone. For a moment, they were all caught up in their thoughts. That didn't last for long, when Shayera turned a frown to Bruce.

"Why didn't you press her for answers?"

"Because she knows how to keep a secret, and that's something many of us value. If she were willing to part with that kind of information so casually, she probably wouldn't be alive today. She probably knows plenty about each of us—if you'll recall, she was fully aware of Operation: Unkindness." Batman continued without heeding the uneasiness his last sentence had caused. Not everyone had known about that Operation, but everyone here did—and it still made them uncomfortable, especially since Raven had recently found out about it. "Now she's shown us that it's far from the only secret she knows. I believe Jinx is offering an olive branch of sorts. We don't go digging into her secrets; she doesn't go digging into ours."

"Uh, wouldn't that make what she said a threat?" Flash asked.

"Not a threat, a promise."

The Bat family was very keen on the difference.

~§~

-=Raven=-

Kamala was headed her way, which was a good thing. Gizmo had contacted her, assuming that Jinx would be nearby. That wasn't the case and Gizmo didn't feel like repeating himself a third time. Apparently, he'd already contacted the Justice League—and just missed the presence of Jinx's wonderful personality. He simply told her to tell Jinx when she got there. Raven shook her head. Well, if nothing else, she had good news for her mate.

"Hey, Demon-girl, Jinx with ya?"

"No, not at the moment, I'm afraid."

"Ah, fuck it—when ya see 'er, tell Jinx we got 14 all-terrain buses inbound. League already knows," and with that Gizmo ended the call.

Raven stared at her communicator in confusion. The message was minimal, but thankfully, she understood what it meant. While she was perfectly aware the HIVE Alumni would soon arrive, one part of the brief communication truly baffled her.

"...They make all-terrain buses?"

The demi-Demon wandered out toward the mass of reporters and levitated herself above them to look out across the field. In the distance, she could see some dust kicking up. They would be here any minute. The reporters, noting her lack of interest in them or making a statement, turned almost as one to the approaching vehicles.

She lowered herself and turned to see Jinx approaching curiously. Raven swept Jinx into her arms, resting her chin on the girl's left shoulder. She smiled softly and whispered to Kamala.

"Your family's here, kitten. Those all-terrain buses will be here in just a few more minutes."

"I can't wait to properly introduce you, Poe-bird—you're gonna to love 'em."

"I'll bet. Baran can be surprisingly charming when he's not throwing expensive vehicles at my head."

"Yeah, there is that," Kammie allowed, and then went quiet for a few seconds, "Wait, they make all-terrain buses?"

Raven chuckled just a bit.

When the HIVE Kids came, they fairly swarmed the place like their vespid colony's namesake. Several of them flew in, including Angel and Kyd Wykkyd. Those two landed directly in front of Raven and Jinx. Her mate disengaged from her and launched herself at both, dragging them into a group hug and pulling back. The entire exchange was silent, mostly. Kyd didn't really speak and Angel was a shy, quiet type. Both offered sincere smiles, and that was greeting enough.

Kyd, however, looked over Jinx's shoulder and separated himself from where previously he'd been glomped between the two women. He moved to her and took her hand, holding it and squeezing it with an earnest, solemn pair of eyes, but a small smile. Jinx had told her he didn't talk, but he conversed more honestly and easily than most people she had met in her life—possibly rivaling only Azar herself.

She shook her head, "You don't have to thank me; I would have gone after her no matter the stakes."

He canted his head, his smile broadening only slightly. Surprisingly, she felt a slight brush against her mind. She didn't pull back, but returned his honesty with her own. He didn't delve, but seemed to breathe in the ambient waves her mind gave off. It was similar to her empathic abilities, if she had to classify it.

"Yes. She's my mate."

Kyd treated her to a grin and pulled back to return to Angel. There, he moved behind the winged woman and put his hands on her shoulders. Angel shifted from Jinx and rested against Kyd's lean frame. Their body language was a clear statement, and she gifted him a smile of her own. Jinx then gravitated back to her, and she likewise took hold of her own mate.

At that moment, a small army of luggage bearing Billies flocked by. As they passed, the Billies Numerous yammered onward with their accompaniments—shamelessly flirting with several of HIVE's femme fatales. None of them seemed to take any major offense and, from what she had seen of him in the past, it was probably just one of his endearingly annoying quirks... either that or one of his annoyingly endearing quirks. It could be both, she supposed.

One of them detached, then proceeded to jovially and loudly proclaim his presence.

"Yo, J—where's our welcome party? Ya got any music here? I heard ya been playin' up a storm on yer Indian banjo, there-"

Raven felt Kamala twitch in her arms, "It's a sitar—not a banjo. A sitar... is an instrument of classical Indian music. How many times do I have to tell you, the banjo is not a classical-"

"You listen here, missy. Maybe ya can't play it in a fancy-schmancy orchestra, but it gets a get-together goin'."

"A sitar can be lively!"

"Funny, I don't hear nothin' lively happenin' anywheres about."

"You-..." Kammie seethed, then squinted, "...just you wait, hillbilly. I'll show you a party."

Jinx stormed away, leaving Raven glaring at Billy for interrupting the embrace of her mate, "Billy... how many of you can you make?"

"Rae-Babe, it's endless."

The Demoness reached out, snared a fistful of his suit by its divide sign, and hauled him almost nose to nose. Her eyes bled red and she snarled in his face. His paling expression was most delightful.

"As are the horrors I will introduce to you if you ever call me Rae-Babe or antagonize Jinx like that again. She's dealing with enough without your badgering. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"Crystal, ma'am."

"Good," she grunted, then shoved him away.

"...I ain't mean nothin' by it," he said with a rare frown.

"I know, but Jinx is still raw from everything that's happened recently. You need to be more understanding."

"Them bastards hurt her? If they hurt her, I'll kill 'em dead."

Suddenly Billy had straightened and lost that childish glee. The stern, strong-jawed Numerous gained years in the way his expression tightened. If there was one thing she knew, it was not to underestimate the HIVE Alumni; they were always much more than they appeared.

"I've already seen to that, Billy. They didn't hurt her this time—but they hurt all those kids. You'll need to be soft with them, too."

"That ain't right," he drawled in ire, "Ya don't treat ladies an' young'uns like that. It just ain't done." After a moment, Billy grinned. "Don't you worry none, Rae-B—ven... I'mma teach them kids all 'bout hows to live up the life."

He then strolled away into another gaggle of himselves.

~§~

-=Kamala=-

As more of the HIVE Kids trickled in, Kammie returned from her tent with her sitar and hopped up onto the boulder upon which she had last played. It seemed as good a 'stage' as any. This time, she had a gathering of the children within moments of sitting. Apparently, they liked her playing and were eagerly waiting for more.

"Okay!" she called out, "Since apparently someone can't tell the difference between classical and folk country, we're gonna have a little object lesson. This—is a song some of you might be familiar with, so feel free to pitch in. I thought it was an apt song, an' I think all o' ya could use some uplifting. So here's something a little more lively!"

Jinx started with a series of simple notes wavering up and down the middle of the scale before dipping to repeat a bit. With her cadence set, she added droning vocals, looking at the children among them and speaking the lyrics to them.

"Do you think about—Everything you've been through? You never thought you'd be so depressed... Are you wondering—Is it life or death? Do you think that there's no one like you?"

Kamala jerked her head, motioning to the various HIVE Alumni, "We are. We are. We are..." Then she burst into the chorus, striking louder and more powerful chords as she went, "We are the ones; We get knocked down! We get back up—and stand above the crowd!"

After a repetition, she returned to the softer notes that she started with, and went back to singing to them with conversational casualness, "The life I think about—Is so much better than this. I never thought I'd be stuck in this mess... I'm sick of wondering—'Is it life or death?' I need to figure out who's behind me."

By this point, some of the HIVE Kids had joined in, and the chants of 'We are' ramped up into the chorus. Jinx sang with the students as a bunch of Billies began improvising some percussion for her as they hit a less vocal-filled part of the song. Some of the Alumni were dancing, too. As Jinx looked out across the children who had been so lifeless and lackluster yesterday, she saw the dying light in their dull eyes slowly rekindling. She could finally believe what Raven told her.

Her family would show them; there could still be life after tragedy. Hope, fragile as it was, could be regrown. It was hard to get back to life... but not impossible, not a mirage. When one had help, it appeared vastly more real. Her brothers and sisters—they would be there for these children when they needed that support.

"We stand above the crowd... We stand above the crowd... We stand above the crowd..."

Yes, these kids had been knocked down—and knocked down hard. It was time for them to get back up, though. This wouldn't be an easy task and Jinx knew it would be an uphill battle... but she would fight it with them.

~§~

-=Lois=-

The girl had an eclectic choice of songs. After about 20 minutes and a few songs—some of them requests from the newly arrived group of Metahumans—the young woman was apparently done for the time being. The girl was fairly acrobatic; made an aerial cartwheel off the boulder and landed gracefully on the ground—all the while keeping hold of the sitar. The pink-haired Meta left the immediate sights of the press and Lois took a moment to make sure the various reporters were looking elsewhere when she slipped a few rows of tents over and made after the girl.

That girl was going to be the centerpiece for more than a few articles, but if Lois could get an actual statement out of her, it would be gold. So far, her would-be interviewee had managed to maintain a certain distance from the Press. She knew some of them were confounded with the various things that kept getting between them and the girl. It didn't even seem like the girl was doing anything to avoid them... obstacles just seemed to converge between them.

Lois headed closer to where she had first seen the girl—by those breakfast tables from earlier, and noticed a blue-cloaked body ahead of her. And ahead of the Titan—the twin shocks of pink that the reporter had been hunting. Raven sedately trailed after the girl. Lois eventually followed them back to the same, unassuming, modest-sized tent they had occupied this morning. The girl swept inside the tent, and Raven followed suit.

Lois checked behind herself, to make sure nobody else had followed her. Her journalistic instinct was to march up to the tent and wait just outside of it for when the girl would come back out after having put away the sitar. Caution and intuition, however, made her hang back just a moment. After nearly a minute passed, Lois found herself impatient and slowly pacing closer to the tent.

Suddenly, the tent shook and a girlish squeal followed by some giggles sounded. Lois froze, and another minute passed. Uncomfortably, she shifted and reconsidered getting any closer. The two girls could have been sharing the tent, and that conjured all sorts of paparazzi-worthy stories in her head. Another minute ticked by, and Lois realized that those two might not be making a return to the public for a while...

Once more making sure nobody had tailed her, she moved away from the tent. If those two girls were in a relationship, it didn't need to be plastered all over the front page of the Daily Planet. Despite wanting to know more about the situation—who the girl was, where she came from, and what had happened in that big, floating building... she could content herself with the smaller details for now. She would get her chance later, perhaps once the girls had reappeared.

She found Jimmy silently snapping away at the medical aid. He paused when she sidled up to him.

"Where did you go?"

"I had to go check a possible lead, but it didn't happen. You get any shots of the girl while she was playing?"

"I got about five shots per song. Have you gotten any calls from your techies? I sent them my photos of her, but haven't heard back."

"No, last I heard, they were resorting to sorting through local news archives," Lois shared a grimace with Jimmy. Searching for something that way took forever and they both knew it. Lois blew out a sigh.

"Everyone's been keeping tight-lipped about this whole thing. I wonder when they'll blow it open. There's no way something like this won't explode. It's just a matter of time." She made sure she had his full attention before she continued, "And Jimmy? Once the details start flowing, we're going to have a front seat to the flood. This is gonna be generating headlines for years. Don't get caught up in the sensationalism of the moment, or you're bound to do something you'll regret."

"I just take the pictures, Lois."

"It doesn't matter, Jimmy—just keep your head on straight."

~§~

By four that afternoon, several of her fellow reporters were milling about, some asking about the pink-haired girl. The question had been around for almost an hour, and Lois had said nothing. Finally, she saw Raven meander back into the scene and begin helping as though she had never departed. It had been two hours since she last seen the couple enter their tent. Two kids barely out of their teens... she was surprised to see either of them before nightfall—or tomorrow morning.

Raven's hood was drawn up, so there was no telling what might be going on in her mind. A stir of murmurs drew her attention to the pinkette ex-prisoner that had since showered and changed her clothes. The girl appeared nothing out of sorts, but Lois knew a glow when she saw it, and that girl was radiant. Now she was definitely glad she hadn't gotten any closer to that tent...

With a quick glance to Raven, Lois saw the Titan's eyes lock onto the other girl for several long moments. The Titan's attention was dragged away by one of the physicians and she broke her stare as though nothing had happened. The journalist watched as Raven made her rounds, but steadily progressed closer to her girlfriend's location.

'And everyone thinks Raven is an ice queen...'

Raven twitched and abruptly stopped in her tracks, slowly turning her gaze toward Lois' general direction. Lois had the distinct impression that Raven was looking for her, if not directly at her... The girl's hood still hid her features, but there was a cautious pause, as though one of the journalists had drawn her attention. Raven lingered a few moments before visibly forcing herself to continue onward.

'...Thought I read somewhere she has some kind of mind-powers... Shit, did she hear my thoughts? Was it because I was thinking of her? ...Damnit, stop thinking about Raven!'

The self-directive wasn't working, so she threw herself into her work. Moving with the tide, she put a hand on Jimmy's shoulder to keep him close. Almost as one, a large delegation gravitated toward the pink-haired mystery girl. There was no way the girl could miss this gaggle and Lois thought it a little tactless, but she wasn't going to be left behind, either.

Raven and the girl wound up working side-by-side; something she was sure happened by design. Whether it was Raven's or mutual planning, she had no idea, but they found themselves ferrying supplies about the camp. Some of the children had been whipped, their backs padded with gauze. Several of them still needed some looking after, and Raven and Jinx were supplying them with various cleaning solution and bandages.

As Lois and the others were slowly moving closer to the pair, her attention was drawn to a girl wrapped in what looked to be Raven's cloak. The girl's skin was dark like the void of space, and her hair a mass of winding, ashen curls. The dark-skinned Meta's body looked to be smoking ever so slightly in the shade of the tent.

The relief aid medic, a tall, Indian woman, said something to the girl in Hindi, but received no reply—just a blank stare from wide, solid red eyes. The medic quickly marked something down on the form held in the clipboard. The medic spoke again, this time in English.

"What is your name?" the voice was soft, encouraging, as one often spoke to children.

"Fifty-one-oh-four."

The medic grimaced, "No, little one, that is not a name... That—is not something we use as a name. What do others call you?"

"Fifty-one-oh-four."

"No, that is a number, not a-..." Lois saw the faint trails steam clouds rolling up from the girl's eyes. The medic trailed off, a mournful expression crossing her features. "Oh, do not cry—I will... I will use that number, for now."

Lois felt sick. These children had lost all identity in that place. That number on the girl's back... it wasn't who that little girl had been. Was it all she remembered, now? Lois couldn't help but wonder how long had it been since anyone had referred to them as anything else. Her attention now completely off the pink-haired girl her group was still meandering toward at a shuffling pace, Lois began to take in the rest of the scene beneath the large awning that made up the makeshift medical ward.

All around her, medics now held clipboards as they spoke with the children. All of them seemed to be doing the same thing: trying to get a name. Apparently, Lois' group had stumbled upon them while they were trying to start some form of medical records for the children. To her horror, she listened to the continual answers from child after child as she passed each successive table.

"Twenty-two-ninety-one."

Lois passed by another table, with another patient and another doctor.

"Forty-seventy-three."

Lois saw a blank-staring boy, no older than 15, and heard his voice drone.

"Eighteen-oh-six."

Lois bumped into the reporter ahead of her, unaware that they had stopped. Her eyes dragged forward and saw that they had come startlingly close to the pink-haired girl and Raven. The two were returning with some boxes—some of them floating in black power and trailing behind the Titan. The hair-horned girl moved back under the awning with her box, and stopped so abruptly Lois wondered if she had hit an invisible wall.

Body rigid, the young woman stood shell-shocked with a slack expression. The box of fell from her loose fingers; dispensers of medical tape and rolls of bandages tumbled out of the box. Her back was to the group of newscasters and journalists, but there was no mistaking the girl's distress.

"No," the girl whimpered.

Raven was at her side in an instant, taking one of the girl's limp arms. The Titan gave the journalists a glance, but summarily dismissed them from her attention. Instead, the purple-haired mystic began murmuring to the pink-haired ex-prisoner.

"Uhm... e-excuse me...? Miss?"

Lois leaned out a bit from the crowd—some journalist about five people to her right was trying to get the girl's attention. Neither Raven nor the seemingly dumbstruck girl paid him any mind. Couldn't he see the girl wasn't in any frame of mind to reply to him? Apparently, he couldn't, because he continued trying to get her attention.

"Miss? Excuse me..."

Raven didn't spare anyone a glance, but continued whispering to the girl. Lois could feel the tension rising. Something was about to happen and it wasn't going to be pretty. If she had reacted badly to these kids' loss of identity... just what must this be doing to the girl?

"Olsen," she muttered warningly, gripping his arm tightly until he stopped looking through his camera lens, "stay calm."

Jimmy stared at her confusedly, but the tense tableau broke when the badgering journalist spoke again, "Um... Miss? ...Thirty-one-twenty?"

Lois drew a sharp breath. Did that man really just say that? He seemed to realize what had just popped out of his mouth himself, eyes wide as though even he couldn't believe what had just left his lips. Lois watched the train wreck play out across the girl's muscles; they crashed into one another, starting with a mild twitch at her nape, and then spasmodically bunching up around her hunching shoulders before working down seized arms into white-knuckled, trembling fists.

The pink-haired young woman whirled about, her eyes blazing with pink energy brighter than the hue of her hair. Lois could hear something akin to a growl from her position only a few yards away. The girl's teeth were clenched tightly, but that didn't last more than a second.

"I have a name!" she bellowed.

The various news crews backed up slowly and warily. Sometimes, Lois hated being right. All that was left now was to do her job and hope it all worked out for the best.

~§~

-=Kamala=-

She stared at the mass of people in front of her, fighting the overwhelming urge to beat them all into the ground for uttering that awful series of numbers. Her fingers felt cramped from how tightly she balled them. When she spoke again, it was with a hurricane of intensity. Her tone held an austere command as she made her declaration with the same conviction as she nearly a decade ago.

"I am Jinx."

The name rippled across the medical ward in echo, the kids uttering the name in a hushed voice. All these children knew her, even if they had never seen her. She was the Jinx: the only one ever to kill a guard, the only one ever to escape, the one who left the Warden for dead on her way out. Her name was profane in the IMRO, an epithet of legendary status whispered in awe and fear and hate.

Kamala whipped about to face them, her voice raising once more, now almost a shriek, "And not one among us is a number! If you can't remember your name, pick another! If you don't remember any other names, then you make one up! Anything—but don't you dare-..." She drew in a hitched breath, ignoring the angry tears making her vision all quivery. She swallowed through tightness in her throat trying to choke her and forced the words out loudly and clearly, "Don't you dare use those numbers! I will not suffer the perpetuation of this Hell—not in its theory and not in its practice."

Everything above her neck felt like it was on fire, everything below felt numbingly cold. Her chest was kicking almost painfully with each, rapid heartbeat. Her fists shook with the effort it took to hold onto the roiling hate trying to explode out of her. She couldn't quite keep a hold of it, though.

"The Warden is dead, and I'll see this building broken and buried if I have to dismantle it cell by cell! I will see it ground into dust... burned to ashes... and wiped from the face of this planet!" Kamala took a few breaths, shallow as they came, trying to force back all the darkness. Jinx knew she couldn't just keep yelling at them, venting her anger. It felt like an impossible feat, but she somehow managed to lay most of it aside. "They're all dead—and they can't stop you, now. They can't keep you silent, can't lock you away, can't hurt you anymore... Your lives have now begun—so do what you will with 'em. You do what you want, but you do not let this place take you down when it falls!"

She stonily glared out across the rows of beds, her breaths coming quick and dizzying her. The scene compressed around her in a strangle hold. Kamala couldn't bear hearing those numbers again... couldn't bear to see those numbers crush these children. A braver person might have been able to hold eye contact with at least one of them for more than a few seconds. A smarter person might have had something better to say instead of just shouting at traumatized kids. A stronger person might have been able to stay and help in some capacity. ...It was all Jinx could do to make her legs move and leave the scene.

In Kamala's wake, silence reigned for nearly half a minute. The pitch-skinned Metahuman clutched at the cape Raven had granted her, eyes trailing after Jinx's distant but still-retreating form. Then she turned her large, red eyes to the medic and opened her mouth.

"Charcoal."

~§~

-=Raven=-

She stood stunned, at once swamped by Jinx's weighty words and unsure of how to soothe Kamala's latest injury. The only thing she was sure about right now was that she should follow her mate. Everything else could wait.

Motion out of the corner of her eye drew her attention to the press. Her sharp, amethyst eyes zeroed in on the bastard that had hurt her mate. Her nigh-murderous glare was enough to back them up several more steps. Raven couldn't hold back her aura, and it seeped out like an invisible fog. She noted the immediate, instinctive response from the press as her sheer presence seemed to grow exponentially. It didn't matter if she was just a gothic-looking girl of five-foot-five... she might as well have been five stories tall.

"Why can't you just think before-..." Raven forced herself to calm down using the iron control she had cultivated over the years. With a slow exhale, she shook her head out of the pointless rant. "I don't have time to waste my breath on you."

With that, the demi-Demon pulled in her aura and directed the various boxes still held within her soul-self to a nearby table. Then she levitated the spilled contents of Kamala's box and floated it back into the dropped container. Once everything was in order, she stalked away, leaving the reporters in a lurch. She was vaguely aware that she brushed by Batman on the way out of the medical tent; he was headed in the direction she had just vacated.

Kamala wasn't anywhere within the general area. She must have broken into a run as soon as she was out of sight. Raven tried to reach out for Kammie's mind, but it was far too mired in turmoil for her to make any sense of it. Still, she could sense Jinx's aura and knew she would find her if she just kept going. Her mate hadn't even deviated much—had gone around tents when they blocked her way, but otherwise had continued in a straight line.

When the Demoness found her mate, she discovered the pink-haired hex-caster in another woman's arms. The woman was tall with a bright, reddish-orange hair. She was slender, but honed—very similar to Jinx's build. She wore an outfit composed of blue leather and steel. The woman's head was bowed over Jinx's, holding her mate tightly while Jinx buried her face against the taller woman's sternum.

"I can't... I just can't..."

Baran and Mikron stood to side of Jinx and the woman. She saw a few more headed in their direction, as well as one or two behind her. Raven recognized her quickly, especially with her proximity to Baran. This was Selinda, Baran's older sister; she was a powerful transmuter and someone she had consulted with briefly before resurrecting Tara.

"...Shimmer," Raven muttered as she came closer.

Selinda looked up and held an arm up to motion her closer. As Raven neared, Shimmer managed to pry Jinx's arms away a little bit. The moment Raven was within arm's reach, Kamala fairly launched from Selinda and seized her. She held her mate tightly, feeling the trembling girl. The mystic Titan was aware of a slowly growing patch on her cape soaking with Kamala's tears.

"I can't watch 'em break... Not after-... I j-jus' can't do it...!"

She shushed Jinx, holding her and brushing as much compassion and reassurance as she could against Kamala's distressed psyche. She became aware of the growing mass pressing in around them. Her first notion was to warn them away with a snarl, but that was before she actually swept her eyes over them.

Angel and Kyd Wykkyd had closed the circle of people surrounding Jinx. Around them, she found a Billy and See-More standing closer. Over their shoulders, she saw XL Terrestrial and Wrestling Star. Beyond them were more students, but Raven saw Sergeant HIVE a short distance away, standing sentry; he faced the direction they had come, supposedly prepared to block any reporters that might follow. The longer she looked around, the more students she noticed filtered in around them.

It was almost uncanny how they all just knew where to find Jinx. Soon, nearly fifty of the HIVE Alumni surrounded them, and the narrow corridor between the tents teemed with Kamala's family. None of them said a word, but she could feel their presence; to a one, their minds were solid and determined. This must have been what Jinx had once spoken about—that silent support in the days after Blood. This was how they saw each other through the traumas they endured.

Her hex-caster had stopped trembling. The tears, too, were slowing. Raven was aware of the warmth of the sun and the heat generated from so many people in a single place. It didn't bother her, but it had to be almost sweltering for others...

Then they were moving. There was a shuffling and a press of motion and suddenly they were on some sort of group trek. As one, they moved in this mass to a destination they all seemed to know, as nobody gave directions. All walked in concert with no jostling or confusion. It was hard to fathom the level of... understood coordination they had. Raven couldn't help but be impressed with their cohesion.

She gleaned from their minds that they were taking Jinx some place safe—some place they could hide her away, where Kamala could hurt without being vulnerable.

~§~END CHAPTER~§~

Author's Note:

Hey, everybody! We're back and I'm actually caught up on answering reviews! Wonder of wonders... You guys left me a whole heck of a lot to talk about, I must admit. I love keeping in touch with my readers, and I tend to give as good as I get when replying. I think I wrote a chapter or two's worth of replies just answering you guys from Chapters 7 through 9! Anyhow, now it's time to buckle down and get this new Chapter's author's notes done. Everyone ready?

Actually, before I start... remember back in Chapter 6's author's notes, when I said my mom makes awesome tuna casserole? She brought over two pans of it. I'm in Heaven. Okay! Now we're ready!

To start, this chapter is a little shorter than all the rest, but it has some extremely poignant and pertinent events occurring within it. It starts out a little humdrum, with Jinx just going through the motions and busywork, but you and I both know that can't last. We have the HIVE Alumni coming to visit!

So we start off things by having Jinx start playing a few songs. Music is important here, because it's a means she uses to break the silence that had so long oppressed these children. She's a former prisoner, like them, making noise and not getting punished. She's pushing that message with the lyrics as much as the very action of singing. Its effect is profound and entrancing, and Jinx hopes that this will help them find their own voices, eventually.

"Somewhere I Belong" was part of the planned songs—there were several—and this one, like many of them, have specific meaning in the story and to Jinx. They work as thematic reference as well as foreshadowing. Obviously, I'm not going to explain the foreshadowing effects, but there's plenty of ways for you to piece things together along the way. If you've been following Jinx's thoughts along the way, there's a very clear lean to where this is all headed.

And so we introduce John. Would you believe that his presence was a mistake? That mistake started last chapter when I started writing the scene (and had even come up with several things hinging on John's presence) and realized... I didn't say Green Lantern... I said Green Arrow! ...But then I was like, "Fuck it, this can work for me!" Sometimes, the best thing to do when you make a mistake in your writing and it's working, is just to not fix it. Yep, you heard me. Don't fix your problems. Let them be part of an interesting plot point.

Once I realized that Stewart was here to stay, I realized that he was also part of Operation: Unkindness... and that Batman, who had screened his heroes and press very carefully, would not take to this lightly. That little mistake gave me a very awesome way to end Chapter 9, with having the ever-awesome argument between two premier heroes of the DC Universe.

Similarly, if you realize that, at some point, you wrote something and now you're faced with something of a rewrite or a retcon... don't fix it. There have been a few times in my lore-building for my stories that I've had to backtrack and check something. Usually, I've forgotten something previously set in my lore that contradicts the scene I'm trying to use to progress the story.

When I make mistakes like that, sometimes I keep them and use them to make "exceptions to the rule." If it's big enough, you get your heroes or villains to stand aghast at the impossibility of something that just happened. Then, later, you get to explain just how that happened and make it a big goddamn deal. It also builds limits, exceptions, and workarounds into your lore.

For example: X binding spell physically bars passage. Y paladin smashes right through it. But how? Oops, I forgot that earlier I said that no living being can pass through it. ...But what if the stalwart, trustworthy Paladin we've been depending upon was a Vampire? Not technically considered "living." Well, now... that's a twist!

How did he become a Vampire? Why is he still supported by his deity? How is it that he's immune to the typical Vampire weaknesses—is it a boon granted by his patron deity, or something else? See how much more interesting this random, nameless Paladin just got?

Of course, that doesn't always work, and sometimes you do just have to go back and fix things, but... well, sometimes it's good to leave your readers wondering. You don't even have to explain everything, as long as it's not an ass-pull and you know why, you can let the readers speculate for however long you want until your reveal. And you really should reveal it or otherwise make a clear path to the answer (even if you don't outright state it) to maintain your continuity.

See, continuity doesn't have to be something you start with, you can build it as you go!

...Uh... where was I? Oh! Right, Green Lantern. This little mistake also allowed me to voice some backstory on Jinx's prior incarcerations and her views on the guards that worked there. For all her previous trauma between the IMRO and Brother Blood, she knew that the guards at JCC weren't going to be half as bad as the IMRO. There's no reason to give these children the wrong idea. Besides, if he'd acted any differently, it's very likely that he would just be sending them mixed signals. A lot of these kids are, like Jinx, hyper-vigilant. They would notice if someone was off and it would only make them withdraw further.

Then we have this interesting little reveal... as much as you could call it one. IMRO... perhaps it is official, but is it India's doing? Probably hard for them not to be aware, but did they truly bankroll it? If so, why was it filled with American guards? The plot thickens...

And so Jinx hints that her hand is fuller than they know, but still doesn't tip it, just yet. Cadmus was not meant to be widely known—just like Operation: Unkindness... and yet, once again, here's Jinx—waist deep in all of it. Of course, there are secrets rolling around in her head about a lot of things. But if she goes spouting those, she's as good as dead. Furthermore, if she goes spouting those, some people might react and make other people dead, too. The kind of information she's found obviously has some pretty far-reaching parameters. How did she get them? Where did she find them?

You'll have to wait and see.

Batman understands. The Bat family makes huge distinctions between a threat and a promise. Because they often are premier threats in their own way, dangerous in body and mind, a promise not to go digging is a courtesy, not a privilege. Furthermore, a threat is something that loses validity if you don't carry through. The Bat family doesn't want to harm anyone, so typically, their threats are only used when they have drawn their line and are pretty sure someone's going to cross it. That way, the victim/opponent knows they have only themselves to blame for their Bat-beatdown.

Yes, they really do make all-terrain buses. They are awesome. That is all.

I like throwing Angel and Kyd into things. They're the quiet kids and, incidentally, probably two of the people who were mostly affected by Brother Blood. As Jinx had mentioned earlier in this story, Angel was Blood's favorite, and received the most frequent and deepest level of abuse. Likewise, this translated over to Kyd and his feelings for her. Angel needed to see that Blood was dead and gone to actually believe it was over.

In this story's time line, Rose Wilson (who does not appear, unfortunately) is of approximate age to these children. Slade Wilson is often portrayed as a monster, but he's a noble monster. In terms of tropes, he is Noble Demon. He's a mercenary with a conscience, for the most part. This... isn't quite the case with the comics or the cartoon specifically, but I have interpretations of him in my story that align things well with my vision of him. This is a man that would do almost (note: almost) anything for family. In this continuity, instead of being a founding member of the Secret Society of Super Villains, I've put him as a founding member of HIVE.

So... a group of kids he had high hopes for honing into the next generation of mercenaries and (possibly, likely) super villains... and Brother Blood comes through and not only disrupts his plans, but does something even more despicable? A creepy, skeevy bastard that molests and traumatizes them? It could have just as easily been Rose, if he had sent her there for some training. It was... personally offensive to him on a number of levels and he could not abide that.

That, my dear readers, is why he asked the HIVE Alumni if they wanted anything special done as he was taking care of the problem at discount price. You do not trifle in the affairs of dragons...

As a side note, I've also removed Adeline Wilson from the HIVE's hierarchy... that's a clusterfuck that I'll have to contend with at a later point. I can (and likely will) come up with other places to introduce her into the world. Also, fuck the Wildebeest Society and that particular fuckery. We can find something better to do with the Wilson family than just... use them to embitter Slade, right? Right?!

So, moving right along with a gaggle of Billies. This is nothing new. Billy being Billy is something everyone in HIVE's gotten use to. Honestly, this wouldn't quite be such a big deal save that Jinx is a little fragile right now and he's stepping on her last nerve, especially with that "lively" comment. These children—and she herself—had once been beaten into silence. Lively is a long, long way off. And that hurts. Jinx knows there's no use arguing with Billy, though.

Don't call Raven 'Rae-babe.'

So, let's stop in with Lois. Where might these two be going? Oh—nooner. Gotcha, let's just... leave them be. But what's this? No more information on our favorite pinkette? Surprise, surprise. Well, you can bet they're going to be doing more digging...

Lois once again proves to be very insightful on this kind of thing. It comes from experience and intuition. This isn't even foreshadowing at this point. Lois is just giving us all a heads up. How many times has she been suspicious and Lex Luthor (or whoever) not pulled some elaborate scheme? Exactly: none of them.

It doesn't work that way, Lois. You can't say "stop thinking about pink elephants." But those two are just totes adorbs.

Moving on to more serious matters: let's take a look into what's happening with the children, shall we? So... who's read "Lord of the Flies" either by choice or as part of your school's required reading? My condolences. Not a fun story, is it? Remember the end? The littlun, Percival Wemys Madison and his address... how it faded away? Yeah, here we see a more insidious version of that. Instead of forgetting identity completely, their identity has been supplanted by someone else's dehumanization of them.

Many of you had been thinking something was going to have to break. Some of you thought it would be Green Lantern, others thought it would be Lois, others though it might be something else. Well... here's your answer. Yes, Batman did vet all these reporters. However, as I had previously mentioned, nobody is perfect. All this guy wanted was a tiny exclusive bit of content. Well, he got it, alright...

"I – Have – A – Name!"

In my head, this is the biggest goddamn proclamation of the entire story. I can hear her voice clearly in my head, punctuating each word at the full height of her voice. The words that pour forth after that come from deep within Jinx's being. If it sounds a tad loquacious, that's because it is. It's everything she's always wanted to shout into the face of the Warden and the guards. It's what keeps her moving. When she has panic attacks, she would use parts of this as a type of... affirmation and mantra all in one. And so she thinks:

I am not a number. I will not suffer the perpetuation of that Hell, neither in its theory nor in its practice. I am the Jinx.

She builds her new life upon this theory. And here, despite the children probably not understanding everything she's said, will still hear some of it. The important parts. This, right here, is the turning point. Kamala isn't there to hear it or see it, but her words do reach them.

And with that, I formally introduce one of our newest characters: Charcoal.

If you thought I'd just leave it at that, however, you've got another thing coming! Raven is exceptional about keeping her cool. But honestly, this man is probably lucky that Raven is more concerned about her mate than reading him the riot act.

Time for another cameo appearance. Who here is familiar with Shimmer? Heck, not many are aware that Baran actually has a sister just based upon the Cartoon; she's not introduced. She's not a recent HIVE Alumni; it's never stated, so I made her the older sister. She graduated a few years ahead of Jinx, possibly mentoring her when Kammie was in her early years at HAEYP. She's become a successful mercenary in that time, had graduated before Blood got his clutches on the Academy. She was possibly a junior when Jinx started out as a freshman.

Remember when I said the shared trauma formed something of a cohesive bond between all the HIVE Alumni? This is what I mean. This isn't something I say to depreciate the close working relationship and family unit that the Titans have built. But this is a little different. This was something forged hot and fast, then solidified and strengthened over the course of two-and-a-half, horrible years. It doesn't make it any better or worse, it just applies on a different scale of measurement.

They draw from each other, just like the Titans, but there's a level of empathy that wasn't there to start with the Titans, because there was no similar experience they all shared in that way. The Titans worked, trained, sweat, and bled for their unity, and it's been well earned and well tested—even by the HIVE Five, themselves.

So here we have the end of the chapter, which isn't exactly ending on an uplifting note... but not on a terrible note, either. I'm pretty sure that most people I replied to got a lot of the same comment from me: while the action may have hit its climax and started to fall, the story is only about half over... and the majority of this story will see a shift into dramatic themes necessary to tie the loose ends of this mess left by the IMRO.

That said, it's been a pleasure going over this chapter and I'll see you all in two weeks' time! Until then!

-Lynx