Chapter 13:
Hey guys! Yay! I got more reviews! Thank you so much for all who reviewed! It makes me happy to know that people actually read it! Every time I check my email and see a review I get all giddy! Thank you to all! And this story should be very long! And also, my goal for chapter is going to be 5,000. This was close. If I reach my goal of 5,000 words, I will do a super-duper large chapter for you! Probably one with 9,000-10,000 words!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NO- You know what? You all know the rest, so why should I keep repeating it?
Btw:
Mindlink
And who saw Saturday's episode? T.T I was so depressed. Kid Flash and Robin kissing Artemis and Zatanna. I DON'T WANT THAT!
Anyways,
Enjoy~!
"Ten against two, you still outnumbered!" Kid Flash taunted as he stood up triumphantly.
Cheshire just smirked. "That's why I was given new toys." she snapped her fingers as a dozen Slade-bots appeared. "And there's more where that came from."
Madame Rouge smirked, confidence clear on her face. "Who's outnumbered now?"
"Oh, crap." Jinx glared at the speedster, who shrunk back a bit. Artemis loaded more of her arrows as Red Arrow did they same. Aqualad's grip tightened around his water-bearers as Superboy clenched his fists. Miss Martian put up her hood as she prepared herself, and Robin took out some bird-a-rangs. Kid Flash put his goggles on as the twins got ready to run.
Go! came Kaldur's voice as they all sprang to action. Miss Martian, Superboy, Artemis, and Red Arrow held off the robots, while Robin, Kid Flash, Mas y Menos, and Aqualad took care of Madame Rouge. Jinx went for Cheshire herself.
They went at it like a cat and dog. Throwing knives and hexes at each other. They chased after each other. Cheshire ran inside an abandon building, and Jinx followed.
The building was dark, but not dark enough for Jinx not to see. She searched around, using her sense to look for the masked girl. Her eyes flashed pink and dodged the knives that came from behind her. She turned and threw a hex at the direction they came from. Cheshire got hit, but felt that the hex was held back, only causing her to be push back.
"You were always one who liked to sneak up on your enemy." Jinx said as her hand glowed.
"So, you found the Team. How wonderful, they were always my favorite to mess with." a laugh escaped her lips. "Especially Red Arrow."
"Why? Do you have a thing with him? Or are you just messing with his head?" Jinx said before sending another hex at her. Luckily, the two archers did not hear their conversation.
"I would say that he can't get me out of his head." Cheshire smirked at the red-headed archer, though, it could not be seen since she wore her mask.
"I see you updated your costume, Cheshire." Jinx said glaring at the girl with pink glowing eyes.
"And I see you updated yours. Sad, I miss your devil horns." Cheshire countered.
"Take off the mask, so we can talk face-to-face." Jinx said as she crossed her arms. Cheshire chuckled, but took off the mask anyways. "Why are you trying to give me to Slade? Aren't we friends?"
"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 she glared at the pink-haired girl. "Everyone knows that after he came along, you couldn't even steal 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. "I'm not the type of girl who just switches sides for some guy! I knew I could do something better. I could finally prove Madame Rubberband out there, 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 a 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." Her eyes were not seen, and her voice wavered a bit. Cheshire gripped the knife harder as she remembered times at the HIVE.
They were like best friends, beside Gizmo and Mammoth of course. They were roommates, and was always there for each other. Jinx always came to her when she needed time away from the guys, and Jinx was always there for her when she got lonely at times. What happened to those times? They seemed so close yet far away.
Cheshire shook her head. "I guess that's what happens as life goes on. People change." She shouldn't cry. It's not like her. She can't be vulnerable just because of an old friendship. The friendship's been broken, right?
"But we change for the better. You could do better than this too." Jinx reasoned taking a step closer. Cheshire 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. "What a conceited desire. We all know you're also trying to prove something." Jinx crossed her arms, while 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." Though she has never met her sister, Jinx remembered Cheshire always talking about her at the HIVE. It made her sort of jealous that at least she still had a family. Sure, her dad's the most well-known villain, Sportsmaster, and her mom, an ex-villain who went by the name of Huntress, but it's still family. Cheshire never did tell Jinx her sister's name though.
"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 said. She thought saying it aloud would have sounded more believable, but she's fooling herself.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." Jinx frowned.
"Fine, maybe it was because I didn't want her ending up like our parents. Maybe, it was because I didn't want her to become evil." Cheshire stared at the ground, her eyes welling up as she spoke the truth. (-And, boy, did the truth hurt.) She scoffed at her own words before chuckling darkly. "But that was all in the past," Cheshire put on her mask once again. "and it seems that I was the one to turn to the dark side. This chat was nice, but I have a job to finish. So if you won't mind." Cheshire swung her arm at her, the knife cutting Jinx's cheek as she tried to dodge it. Blood dripped down her cheek and it stung a bit, but Jinx ignored it.
"Look, Cheshire, you can't let Slade control you. Remember, Brother Blood?" Jinx said as she dodged each swipe. Cheshire just kept swinging her knife, throwing some kicks and punches in the combination.
"That. Was. A. Long. Time. Ago!" Cheshire said in between swipes, grazing Jinx's arm in the process. Jinx winced, but continued to dodge her hits. She kept backing away until he back touched a wall. "You're the reason I can no longer trust anyone."
"Jade, we can-"
"Don't call me that!" Cheshire yelled as she threw the knife at Jinx. Cheshire eyes widened as she tried to grab for the knife, but it already slipped out of her grasp. "No! Jinx!"
Luckily (which is quite weird for her), Jinx was prepared this time. Her eyes glowed pink, and the knife stop in mid-air. It crumpled like a piece of paper and clattered to the floor.
It was silent. Jinx stared at Cheshire, who just stared at the crumpled knife on the ground. The knife that was so close to stop Jinx's heart. Why did she care if Jinx's died anyways? I mean, she deserves to after turning good and betraying her. Was it because she was her only friend? Stupid feelings.
"Jade, look-" Cheshire just ran out the door. As she ran, she took out a black communicator-like device. She flipped the cover open and pushed one of the side buttons.
"Madame Rouge, fall back now."
Slade-bots were falling, but multiplied even more. A beeping noise sounded in Madame Rouge's pocket as the elastic woman dodged the bird-a-rangs and the punches. She took out the same black communicator device from her pocket. On the small screen, Cheshire's masked face was seen, and it looked like she was running.
"Madame Rouge, fall back now." came Cheshire's voice. Madame Rouge frowned as she dodged another kick.
"Why should I? The mission is not yet finished." Madame Rouge shouted angrily.
"Because I am in charge of this mission, and I say, fall back!"
"But we can defeat them! They're just amateur children!"
"Fall back, dammit!" Cheshire said, loosing her temper. "I'm sending a 'copter to you now." With that said, the screen turned to black, and Madame Rouge pocketed the communicator.
"Sorry to end this little fun," Madame Rouge said as one of her elastic arms threw Robin, Kid Flash, and Mas y Menos to the side, "but I have to run." Just then a helicopter came down, close enough for Madame Rouge's arm to reach up and grab the ledge. "Or better yet, fly." The helicopter flew up with Madame Rouge hanging on.
Slade-bots were all broken and scattered on the ground. Superboy punched the last one, removing the core of the robot. It shorted-out and fell to the ground. Kid Flash helped up Robin once again as they got up from the fallen rubble that was removed from the building after the impact.
"Ow. I'm no longer feeling the aster." Robin commented as he rubbed his arm. There would soon be a bruise on his body that would need serious packs of ice.
"Me siento como un montón de ladrillos acaba de caer sobre mi cuerpo..." Menos said as he stretched his back, hearing it crack as he sighed contentedly.
"Yo podría tener que dormir esta noche en el hielo por lo que mi espalda no puede tener moretones." Mas added as he stretched his arms and legs. Kid Flash looked around, seeing all the robots on the ground, the Team all here, but where's-
"Guys, where's Jinx?" Kid Flash asked as he looked for the pink-haired girl. The Team looked around, finally noticing that she was missing.
"I think I saw her chasing after Cheshire in that direction." Artemis said as she pointed to the direction of an abandoned building. Before they could run to it, they saw Jinx walk out from the building.
"Jinx!" Kid Flash dash to her side.
"Jinx señorita!" Mas y Menos yelled after her as they held hands and followed the other speedster. Kid Flash immediately noticed the cut on her cheek.
"You have a cut." Kid Flash said as he cupped her cheek, removing some of the blood dripping on her cheek.
"I'm fine." Jinx said brushing him off. The twins gasped as they saw dark red color spreading along Jinx's arm, staining her sleeve.
"Jinx, su brazo!" Mas yelled, while pointing at Jinx's arm.
"Estás sangrando mucho!" Menos added as they carefully grabbed her arm. Jinx blinked as she looked at her arm. She had really forgotten about that.
"I guess I am." Jinx said as if it were nothing, shrugging only to be flinching a bit as the pain kicked in. Hopefully, Kid didn't notice...
But he did notice. "Don't treat it as if it were nothing! We have to bandage it up before it gets infected." Jinx just nodded, not saying a word. She had a dazed look on her face and looked as if she wasn't even listening to him. Kid Flash wrapped his arm around Jinx's shoulder and brought her to the rest of the group.
The Team walked to the Bio-ship in silence. Superboy and Miss Martian walking side by side, Aqualad by them. Red Arrow and Artemis walked together with Robin in the middle, each looking forward. Mas y Menos stayed close to Jinx and Kid Flash, worried about Jinx.
Once they all boarded the Bio-ship, Kid Flash began tending Jinx's wound. He got the Emergency First Aid kit and dashed to Jinx. The twins sat close to Jinx, not wanting to leave her side. Jinx just stared at the ground in thought. Kid Flash asked her to remove her blazer, which she did so, but silently. She continued to stare at the ground, wincing a bit when the alcohol made contact with the cut. "Sorry." Kid Flash said, noticing her wince.
It was silent again. No one said a word on the Bio-ship. The Team had noticed Jinx had been awfully silent, not too mention three of them still had yet to apologize for their accusations.
Finally, Jinx spoke. "Kid, was what I did right?" Kid Flash raised an eyebrow at her.
"Did what?"
"You know, changing sides." Jinx looked up at Kid. "Was it right?" Kid opened his mouth to speak, but Jinx just shook her head. "Just think about. This all wouldn't have happened. The HIVE Five wouldn't have be working for Slade, the Titans wouldn't have been hunted down and taken, Slade wouldn't have been so bent on having me, and Jade wouldn't-" she stopped in mid-sentence. She removed Kid's grasp on her arm, and buried her head in her hands. "God, I'm such a bad person."
The twins rubbed her back as Jinx sighed into her hands. Why was the world so cruel to her? Every time she believes she's doing something right for once, the universe has to blow something up in her face in order to tell her that she was wrong this whole time. It's probably part of the bad-luck package. I told you before, right? I'm bad luck. Good was never an option for me. she thought to herself. Suddenly, she grew angry. This was all his fault. If he hadn't shown up, Jinx would have still been with the HIVE Five, and possibly part of the Brotherhood of Evil. She would have also continued to be there for Jade, and Jade vice-versa.
Then again, she wouldn't have been here right now. She would probably have been frozen with the rest. She wouldn't have known her new found Titan friends, or known how good it felt to be a hero. She wouldn't even have gotten to know that feeling she had with Kid Flash two years ago. How when he smiles, she feels the 'butterflies in stomach'. When he jokes and teases her, her heart just beats faster. Or every time he kissed her... Jinx admits, she missed him.
Damn, she fell for him. Hard.
Jinx shook her head. She doesn't even know if he still likes her that way. Sure, he tried to kiss her like two times already, but Kid Flash unconsciously flirts with people. He had probably done that to many girls.
She looked up from her hands when noticing the long silence and saw the whole team staring at her. "What?"
"You know Cheshire's real name?" Kaldur cut in. Kid Flash glanced at Artemis as she caught his eye, but turned away, crossing her arms as she did so.
"Yea, we shared names in the HIVE. Why?" Jinx explained as she tilted her head to the side. The Team looked at each other and began talking through mindlink, excluding Jinx and the twins.
We should tell her. I mean, she already knows-Robin started only to be cut off by Artemis.
No way! I still don't trust her. Artemis narrowed her eyes as she glared at the floor.
I agree with Rob. We should at least tell her. She already knows Cheshire personally.Kid Flash intervened as he continued to wrap Jinx's arm, pretending not to have a conversation in his head.
Artemis does, however, have a point. Miss Martian added shyly. Keeping her villain side from us was clearly-
She didn't want you guys to know because she knew you guys wouldn't trust her. Red Arrow cut in as he crossed his arms over his chest. And she was exactly right.
Don't we have a right to? I mean, she just shows up out of nowhere, saying that your old team was taken away by that Slade guy. How do we know that she's not working for Sla-
"You guys do know that I know you're talking telepathically, right?" Everyone turned their attentions to Jinx, who paid no attention to them, but to her now bandaged arm, feeling the rough surface of the bandages. She noticed their stares, and rolled her eyes. "Please, I'm an ex-villain not stupid."
"Sorry." were each of their (some muffled) apologies.
"But seriously do you guys know her, know her?" Jinx continued to play with her bandage. "Do you know if she found her sister yet?"
"You know she has a sister?" Artemis said as she stood up from her seat, saying her words a little... Offensive. Jinx put up her hands in defense.
"Woah, there. Calm down a bit. I don't get why you're so..." Realization dawned her as Jinx's eyes widened. "You're her sister, aren't you?" It was Artemis's turn to be surprised, and a bit taken aback at how she could find it out so fast.
How is it that she can figure it out so fast and I just met her? Only the Boy Blunder found it out this fast, the others were totally oblivious to the truth. Artemis thought as she looked puzzled at the pink-haired girl. "How did you-"
"Yea, I'm starting to see the resemblance. How did I not notice it before?" Jinx face-palmed, then turned her attention to Artemis. "Did you guys talk?" she asked eagerly.
"Oh we talked alright. Just not with words." Artemis muttered as she blew away a piece of hair away from her face. Jinx frowned as she shook her head.
"Way to go, Jade. Just when you have a chance to talk to her, you blow it up." Hopefully, not literally. Jinx thought, while shaking her head disapprovingly. She turned her attention back to the blond archer. "You know, she didn't mean to leave you, right?"
Artemis's eyes narrowed at the glare. "Of course she meant it. She didn't even want to keep the family together-"
"She only left to take down your father." Artemis's eyes widened. "She didn't want you to end up like them."
"Well, leaving me wasn't the answer."
"Just think of it as the only answer." Jinx said as she sat back in her seat. Artemis just scoffed.
"But, she's the one who turned into them." Artemis retorted as she stood up. Jinx stood up as well. "She's a villain now. And we all know that villains are bad."
"Not every villain is bad!" Jinx yelled as her eyes began to glow. "We were put into villainy. You don't know what it's like to be shunned out. Sure, not every villain is a meta, but those who are have it worse." Jinx's eyes stopped it's vicious glow. "Once you're out in the streets, having only a dumpster as a bed, you'll accept any offer that comes to you."
The ship was silent. It was then that Jinx noticed she said we instead of they. Jinx sat back down and stared at her lap, ignoring the stares. The tension in the room was as thick as fog. The only sound was the air passing them by outside.
Deciding to break the tension, Mas asked, "En realidad dormía en un contenedor de basura?" Menos elbowed him in the arm, as Mas yelped in pain.
"No está bien, hermano." Menos shook his head disapprovingly. Mas just put his hands up in defense.
"Yo sólo estaba tratando de disminuir el estado de ánimo!"
"Ellos no pueden entender, imbécil." And so they began to bicker, while everyone else (except Jinx and Robin) did not understand a word they said and just watched the twins yell at each other in spanish. When a specific word came up, both Robin and Jinx shouted a 'Watch you're language!' before giving each a weird look.
"Wow, the twins were right. You two are alike." Kid Flash said before hexes and a bird-a-rang knocked him off his seat.
Yay! A very LONG chapter! Well, for me, anyways. I hoped you like it! I really liked this chapter. You got to take a look at Jade/Cheshire's story (a bit), and a little of how Jinx defends her (used-to-be) fellow villains. Anyways, really enjoyed writing this, and I hope you like it!
And before I forget it again, here's the translations:
Me siento como un montón de ladrillos acaba de caer sobre mi cuerpo..- I feel like a pile of bricks fell on my body.
Yo podría tener que dormir esta noche en el hielo por lo que mi espalda no puede tener moretones.- I might have to sleep on ice tonight, so my back won't be bruised.
Jinx señorita!- Miss Jinx!
Jinx, su brazo!- Jinx, your arm!
Estás sangrando mucho!- You're bleeding a lot!
En realidad dormía en un contenedor de basura?- You actually slept in a dumpster?
No está bien, hermano.- Not cool, bro.
Yo sólo estaba tratando de disminuir el estado de ánimo!- I'm just trying to lessen the mood!
Ellos no pueden entender, imbécil.- They can't understand you, you nitwit.
Ah, I love the twins. They are so fun to write about. I love imagining the Team wondering what they were saying.
Thank you, R&R~!
~Superbluestar428