"Swindle" by Ed Alger (or SecondLevelWriter)

Author's Notes - Any and all disclaimers mentioned in past chapters and stories are still in effect, as usual.

Chapter 11
Alteration

The next morning, Swindle awoke at the crack of dawn and found himself feeling a bit more refreshed than he had ever been. For once, things were finally going his way. Cyborg was now aware of the rogue's presence within the academy and his relationship with Jinx would soon be gently dissolved. This would allow Swindle more opportunities to work on restoring his friend's memories and, hopefully, convince her to return to the motel and resume her former life.

"Swindle, please report to the Headmaster's office as soon as possible. Once again, would Swindle please report to the Headmaster's office at once."

But, of course, Brother Blood just had to call on him now...

Thirty seconds had passed since the announcement was repeated when Swindle stepped through the doorway, "You wanted to see me, Teach?"

Brother Blood turned from gazing out the window to face his pupil, "Yes, I did. Please, have a seat."

"I'll stand, if ya don't mind."

Blood shrugged, "Very well. I called you in here because I have something important that only you can assist with." He turned back to gazing out the window, "We've made some excellent strides in the completion of our project. I have you to thank for the part you played in it."

As Brother Blood continued on, Swindle's eyes roamed the desk in search of pilferable items while his ears tuned out the speech. After making a quick check to see if Blood was watching, the thief made his move.

Brother Blood thought he had heard shuffling behind him. When he looked over his shoulder, he still saw Swindle standing behind the chair that was offered to him. While he was never certain, he could have sworn that the plaque on his desk wasn't there anymore. He continued his speech after a moment's regard.

"The Hive Academy for Extraordinary Young People will soon MEAN something again..."

More shuffling. Blood spun around again to see the exact same scene as before. Swindle was innocently counting the cracks in the ceiling, but it seemed like his desk lamp had now vanished. The rogue didn't appear to have anything stuffed anywhere...

The headmaster cleared his throat and turned his back again, "I will be overseeing this part of the project, of course. What I'll need you to do, Swindle, is..." Shuffle. "Is..." Shuffle-shuffle. Blood whirled around, his eyes already beginning to glow red, and shouted, "What are you doing?"

Swindle answered calmly while scratching just below his nose, "Dunno whatcher talking about, Teach. I've just been standing here this whole time."

Blood sighed, "Whatever. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that we intercepted a transmission from the Teen Titans last night. They are planning to strike our academy tonight, and I want you to be ready for them. I already have Jinx, Mammoth, Gizmo, and Stone on standby for the impending attack. And when they do come, I'll need you to lure them to the basement-level dueling room."

"An ambush, eh? I suppose they're comin' after our school project?" he asked.

The headmaster nodded once, "They know that we've created a weapon of great power. It's one that has been tailor-made for one of my best students, and they'll certainly want to get it for themselves."

"Well, if it's a gun, I'll pass on it. I'm not much for firearms," Swindle pretended to act aloof, although the mention of a secret weapon always made him wary. After a pause for any additional information, he prodded with, "Is that gonna be all?"

"Yes, you are dismissed. Oh, and Swindle?"

The rogue stopped and turned back around.

"Do keep up the good work. It's because of your efforts that our project is going to be a great success."

Swindle had to work hard to hide his clenched teeth, "Just happy t' be here, Headmaster. Good day to ya."

Brother Blood turned back to his desk after the student left, only to find it completely bare. He briefly considered calling Swindle back to demand his possessions back, but then found himself chuckling at just how good a thief that boy is. Both Swindle and "Stone" showed great promise for the academy, and that would be put to its first real test when the Titans arrive.

Swindle chuckled merrily to himself, with stealing so much stuff helping to further improve his mood. Brother Blood may think he's got the advantage, but the rogue had different plans along with half of the headmaster's desk inventory. In the midst of battle, there was bound to be some chaos and Brother Blood couldn't possibly keep his eyes on everybody. Then he could do what rogues do best: backstabbing. With the headmaster finally out of the way, Jinx's memories would be as good as restored.

As luck would have it, Swindle spotted the hex-caster in the hall on his way to the next class. Jinx was walking by herself with her books clutched to her chest and a distant, dreamy look upon her face. Swindle assumed that she was just still floating from last night's dance and hadn't yet talked to Stone since then. The thief snuck up behind her and tapped her left shoulder, making sure to stay on her right side as he fell into step next to her.

The hexer's annoyed scowl immediately melted when she turned her head the other way and saw her friend, "Hey, Swindle. You put on a good show for the academy last night. Did you know those guys or something?"

Swindle nodded, "Thanks. Yes, I did. Old buddies of mine from my last job. You looked like you were in a good mood just now, by the way..."

Jinx nodded in return, "I just had the most wonderful morning..."

"O-Oh? What... Uh... What happened?"

The sorceress looked at her friend with sparkling eyes, "Stone just asked me to come with him to a movie. I think he's gonna ask me to be his girlfriend tonight."

Swindle stumbled at the news. A stabbing pain in his chest made him wince and prop himself up against the wall with one arm. Jinx doubled back to check on him.

"Swindle? Are you okay?"

"Yeah.. I'm fine, Jinx. Congratulations..." The bell for the next class rang, forcing Swindle to say, "Get going. Don't be late on my account. It's... probably just something I ate at breakfast."

Jinx gave him a concerned look before he waved her on. She hesitantly took a couple of backward steps and then broke into a full run down the hallway, not wanting to be late. Meanwhile, Swindle couldn't ignore the searing pain in his heart, with Jinx's words still ringing in his skull. It seemed that all the things he'd worked for had finally slipped through his fingers. But how? He talked to Cyborg just last night!

Brother Blood...

Ice ran down his spine at the realization. Shortly after, his blood began to boil. Every time he thought he had made some kind of progress, some kind of breakthrough, the damn headmaster finds another way to snatch her out of his hands!

He stood there silently seething, until he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see who dared to touch him. The unfortunate soul turned out to be none other than Billy Numerous, with a handy maxim to help comfort his classmate.

"Well, ya know whut they say, Swindle. 'It's better t' have loved an' lawst than never t' have loved t'awl!'"

Billy soon became aware of Swindle rising up in front of him with nothing but white-hot rage in his eyes. He had just enough time to regret his actions...

Around the corner, whoever was still dawdling on their way to class heard a brief but noisy scuffle take place. From around that same corner, Swindle stormed off towards the dormatory again. He muttered a single sentence over his shoulder.

"Blow it out your evenly divisible ass, Numerous..."

Back at the scene of the beat-down, Billy's legs were helplessly kicking as they stuck up out of a trash can. A pair of newly-created duplicates were already helping the original out as he cried, "Whut? Whut'd I say?"

Swindle blew past Bumblebee, saying nothing on the way. The girl tried her best to follow her friend back to his room, but even flying didn't help her catch him. The rogue made it to his room in seconds and slammed the door hard behind him. The undercover Titan made it there shortly afterwards and was about to knock on his door when she heard a fierce scream from behind it, followed by a loud series of crashes.

Bumblebee frantically pounded her fist on the door, "Swindle! What's the matter? Open the door and tell me what's wrong!"

In that same instant, there was a sudden silence. Bumblebee became very unsettled by this and hoped that Swindle wasn't going to try something rash. Thinking it a longshot, she tried the doorknob anyway. To her surprise, it opened.

She only opened it an inch or two before cautiously peeking in. There was no retaliation, no screaming, no anything. Her eyes fell upon the rogue, who was sitting curled-up at the head of his bed with his forehead resting on his knees. Everything else in his room, however, was smashed beyond recognition. The few clothes he owned were now scattered as if they exploded from the demolished dresser. Large gashes had been carved into every wall, ending with both daggers sticking out of the wall over Swindle's head.

"Swindle?" she called to him softly. Without an answer, she tried his true name, "Swipe..?"

"Why's this happening to me, Bee?" the rogue finally answered, but never picking his head up to look at her. "What'd I do to deserve this?"

Bumblebee edged through the doorway, keeping wary of any outbursts, "What do you mean?"

"Jinx an' Stone... They're an item now... It's all over now."

"But... I thought you talked to him last night."

"I did, but I guess Brother Blood's a bit more persuasive than I am..."

Bumblebee gasped, "What? No, he didn't... he couldn't have...!"

Swindle looked up to her and nodded. She could see his eyes were already somewhat bloodshot. "He could an' he did. He did it to me again, Bee. Dammit... dammit... DAMMIT!" The thief's hands tightened back into fists before he yanked a dagger from its place in the wall, "I can't keep going like this! I've gotta take Blood out now before Jinx gets hurt or I end up losin' her forever!"

"Whoa! Calm down, will you? You can't just take Brother Blood head-on, he'll rip you apart!"

"I don't care about me! I care about HER!"

"Jinx?"

"YES!" Swindle shouted, looking straight into his friend's eyes."I love her, Bumblebee! I'm in love Jinx!"

Bumblebee's eyes went wide when she saw the desperation in his face. She knew how much Jinx meant to the rogue, but she never knew just how much until now. Her mind worked quickly to build a plan, which fortunately took only a couple of minutes. "All right, I've got an idea. Whatever project Brother Blood has planned for Jump City, we both know the Titans will stop at nothing to shut him down. We just have to know when he's going to unleash it..."

"They already know, Bee. They'll be here tomorrow," Swindle answered her. "The thing is, the Titans believe that I'm hypnotized like everyone else. They'll probably take me down before I can do anything sneaky to the Teach."

Bumblebee held up her communicator, "You're forgetting that I'm also a spy for the Titans. I can let 'em know ahead of time to leave you alone so you can pull off your plan."

The thief smacked his forehead, "How'd I forget that?"

The undercover Titan chuckled, "You've been under a lotta stress, that's how. Don't you worry, I'll take care of this. You get your rest for tomorrow."

"Thanks, Bee. I'm glad I've got someone to count on in here."

With that, the Titan spy made her way to her next class. Swindle went to the cafeteria early to get something to drink and calm himself down. Since he had special orders from the headmaster, he was excused from his classes for the day in order to let him get his weapons and supplies in order. However, he chose to use his time to take a nap and wait for the next day.

That night, however, Bumblebee came to Swindle's room with an urgent look on her face.

"Bee? What is it?" he asked her after answering the door.

"It looks like Brother Blood's not taking any chances. My transmission was scrambled partway through. I think he got Gizmo to put up a jamming field or something."

"Crap.. Did you get to tell the Titans anything?"

Bumblebee shook her head, "Just that Blood's planning to show off his class project to the city. I wasn't able to tell them about you or Cyborg."

Swindle scratched at his chin, "Great, that means they'll still think he's on their side an' I'm not. Guess I'll just hafta wing it again. Thanks for lettin' me know, Bee. This changes the game plan a bit."

"Be careful, Swipe. Brother Blood has me working on his next project and I won't be here for awhile."

"I've worked against worse odds. I'll be fine," he assured her, grinning a scoundrel's grin.

"Good luck, S."

With that, they parted ways for what would end up being the rest of that week. He used the first half of the next day to sharpen up some more throwing knives for the fight, since there was no sense in trying to work on Jinx's memories anymore. He placed those knives in a separate sleeve on his belt and just happened to look to his right. He noticed the gold bracelet laying on the end table and picked it up. After looking it over for a minute, he laid it back down and hastily sharpened a few more knives.

Those went into another separate sleeve, just in case he needed to use them on Cyborg as well.

End of Chapter 11

In Chapter 12 - To arms! The Titans are coming! And Benedict Swindle is ready to stab the headmaster right in the back. Or front. Or side. It really doesn't matter as long as it gets stabbed. But is Brother Blood the only target in the rogue's sights?