I totally ignored two papers and a few hours of sleep to get this chapter up, but now that my show is open I can afford to. Sorry for the huge lag, guys, it's been totally crazy. Well, plot progress and a few story-line edits, but here we are. I just had to bring Punk Rocket back into it, I didn't get to do everything I wanted to do with him last time. This is probably one of his last chapters, though. Believe it or not, we're closer to the end. Less than ten chapters, guys! Here we go!

It Is Cryptic

Kitten drove them to the pier; Billy slept most of the way, except for the part when he slumped over into her lap, woke suddenly, and commented on how comfortable her new jeans were, causing her to knee-jerk him in the head, which meant she took her foot off the gas, and nearly caused an accident amongst the four-lane highway.

"You break this car, you buy it, girl," Billy warned her. "I like my cars in good condition."

Kitten rolled her eyes. "Says the guy they crowned the Prince of Crash Alley."

"That's other people's cars. That's not my problem. Hey, the light!"

"By rights I should be a better driver than you," Kitten grumbled as they parked. "I mean, you're practically blind."

"I am blind. Can't even see past the windshield. Whatever. It's easy to hear the other cars."

"No it's not!" She slapped his arm. "You're like a bat. It's so freaky."

They took a while picking a boat to hi-jack, because they agreed that the Titans could take responsibility for anything they stole since they had been invited to the Tower without being provided with a better means of transportation. Kitten eventually found a ride she thought was "pretty", and Billy grudgingly admitted that it was adequately rigged up.

"It doesn't have to go fast anyway," he said. "Elliot can freaking wait. I don't even care."

"I want to drive," said Kitten. "I've never driven a boat before."

Billy raised his eyebrows. "We'll see how it goes."

She laughed and punched him in the arm as he started the engine. But a red and black streak zoomed by them before they could get out properly in the water, and capsized their boat.

It took them a few minutes to gather themselves out of the water, and a little bit longer for Kitten to properly agonize over the condition of her new shoes. But finally they were able to return to business, and Kitten observed that they had been passed up by Johnny Rancid's bike.

"Well, at least it's running smoothly," Billy said sourly. "It's always good to know when something I've fixed works. I'll fucking kill him."

"Johnny wasn't driving."

"Well, then, who was?"

"I don't know! Just not him. Whoever it was, he wasn't big enough." She thought about it a little more, and added, "So I guess somebody stole it."

"And I'm going to get blamed!" Billy growled. "Man, two in a row? This sucks!"

Kitten's communicator began to play "Rock the Casbah", and she opened it and said, "Rocky, somebody totally stole Johnny's bike!"

"Um, yeah," Rocky said nervously. "Hi. Sorry about that, I didn't realize it was you guys in the boat, or I would have swerved." His image on the screen was shaking, as though the hand holding it were shaking as well.

"You little brat," Billy snarled at the screen. "Does Johnny know you've got his bike?"

"I was in a hurry," Rocky explained. "And it's not as if I've got five or ten cars to choose from like you do."

"Does Johnny know you have his bike?"

This finally seemed to give Rocky pause, and he said, "Well, he must have figured out that somebody has it."

Billy nearly screamed. Kitten snatched her communicator back and said, "Rocky, sweety, what's up? What do you need the bike for?"

"Oh, it's…um," Rocky bit his lip. "It's nothing really. Did you guys get the call this morning about how the police wanted to talk to us?"

"Yeah, but I think they meant they wanted us at the station, not the Tower," Kitten said as Billy continued to fume in the background.

"Really? Oh, right. Well, as long as I'm here, I might as well see Jinx---"

"Jinx isn't there right now, you lying little fuck, so you have no reason to be at the Tower unless you're going to tell them what we know. Is that what you're doing?" Billy demanded. "If you---"

"I'm trying to find Elliot! He's here, isn't he? He just texted me. He said you were taking forever and he wanted to get away from the Tower as soon as possible before something…anything else happened," Rocky finished lamely. "I mean, he can't teleport right now, apparently, and it sounded like he got hurt."

"He's always getting hurt!" Billy snapped. "I can't remember the last day he didn't come to me wanting something bandaged! What are you actually doing over there?"

Rocky opened his mouth as if he might answer, but something caught his attention off-screen and he hung up abruptly. Kitten tried to dial him up again, but he wouldn't answer his communicator. Kitten looked up to ask Billy what they should do, but she saw he was already stomping off through the water looking for another boat.

"We're going with speed this time," he informed her coldly. "Don't talk to me right now. I'm not mad at you."

"So I'm not saying you have to call her up every second of the day," said Seymour. "You don't even have to schedule a date. I gave you her number so you could make contact and get her interested. And I totally asked her today if she had spoken to you since the last time you called her, and she was like, "Um no." What's the deal?"

"I have other stuff to do," said Roy. "Like my job. I have a job. Do you have a job?"

"Are you kidding? I'm so busy already! Besides, who's going to hire a fifteen-year old? It's freaking illegal, dude."

Roy narrowed his eyes. "You're fifteen? You don't look fifteen. You look more like thirteen. A thirteen year old with a deeper voice."

"Me and Jaya are the same age," Seymour said, shrugging.

"I'm older by two months," Jinx announced as she closed the interrogation room door behind her. "Vito's thirteen."

"Um, no I'm not," said Vito from where he had set up his laptop. "I'm fourteen. I turned in February. Remember? Oh, wait. You weren't there. Never mind."

Jinx blushed. "I owe you a birthday present, then."

"Forget about it."

"Did you find out anything?" Roy asked.

"We didn't even talk about it," Jinx frowned. "Apparently everybody knows about it, though, so you better hurry up and tell me the gossip, Seymour."

"Where are my golf clubs?" Seymour asked sweetly.

"How the hell would I know?"

"Oh. Better not ask me for anything, then."

"I didn't take your stupid golf clubs!"

"No, you didn't. Your boyfriend did, and you are in part responsible for the fire crotch, so hurry up and retrieve my golf clubs."

" 'Fire crotch'? What happened to calling him 'Wallace'? I think he'll be equally annoyed either way."

"He doesn't deserve a proper name until he returns my golf clubs."

"I don't believe he took them," said Jinx. "He's too noble and honest. He wouldn't stoop to that."

"You wouldn't believe he totally invaded our place, again, and induced me to break our television and went straight into my room and is holding my golf clubs for ransom, but he did and he is," said Seymour.

"You broke the TV all by yourself," said Vito.

"Why would he want your golf clubs?" Jinx demanded. "Unless you two made some kind of stupid bet yesterday, or you took something of his, I can't think of any reason---"

"He'd probably get really embarrassed if I told you," said Seymour, "which is why I am about to tell you every last detail of our conversation about you."

Jinx put her hands on her hips. "About me?"

"It was absolutely pathetic," Vito sneered. "He has no clue what to do. You're such a head case when it comes to relationships."

"Oh my god," Seymour turned to Roy conspiratorially. "Has Cyborg ever told you guys about her first boyfriend? He was a redhead too, and he---"

Jinx shot a warning hex near Seymour's ear, but he only grinned. "What is that supposed to do? Scare me? I'm so over it, girl. You never shoot to kill."

"Bite me!" Jinx snarled. Seymour responded with a strange hand gesture that resulted in a snapping sound, which apparently meant something because Jinx gasped and shot a real hex at the chair Seymour had been sitting in before he dodged. It looked as if the two might enter an all-out fight, but at that moment Montego stepped between them and announced that it was time to leave.

"Tell the police they'd better step it up if they want to catch this guy," he added to Jinx as he pushed Seymour out the door.

"They'd have an easier time if you'd tell them what was up," Jinx said meekly.

"The stuff we know isn't helpful. It's just personal. See ya." He patted her head gruffly and left.

Roy frowned. "Don't they still have another guy here? Cyborg went to the back room to help him out with a DUI."

Jinx rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. Billy?"

Roy shook his head. "His alien friend."

Jinx snorted a little giggle. "Leave him here. It'll be funny. Cyborg can give him a ride if he really needs it."

Rocky snapped his communicator shut as Aqualad approached the bike. "Don't touch it," Rocky warned him politely. "It's really hot. It's a bike from hell, no joke."

"I saw you speeding over here. Are those people you passed by okay?"

"Who, them? Yeah, Bill---yeah, they're fine. No big deal. I didn't actually hit them, and it was shallow water, so they're…it's cool."

Aqualad narrowed his eyes. "Really."

Rocky nodded emphatically and began trying to get off Johnny's bike. Aqualad caught his elbow as he stumbled, and Rocky pushed him away quickly. "I'm fine. That bike is…man, that monster is such a trip. I don't suggest it. I think it sucks out your soul. I don't know how Johnny does it."

"So that is Johnny Rancid's bike. What are you---"

"Dude, sorry, but I'm kind of…I'm not here for…look, Elliot, I mean, Kyd Wykkyd just needed a ride and I don't have a car and technically I don't have a license either, for anything, I mean, anything, boats, cars, bikes, whatever, I'm just not that old, but I know how to drive, you'd have to be a freaking idiot not to know how to drive, and Johnny's at work and I didn't have anything else so I just figured---"

"Okay! Okay, look, just…come inside. Are you cold? You're shivering. Just come inside. We'll take care of it, all right?"

Aqualad took the boy by the elbow and dragged him indoors, cursing his paternal instincts and debating about whether or not to report Punk Rocket's activities as criminal.

"The thing is," Aqualad tried to explain as he searched for a nearby chair or something to drink, "I don't think Ell…Kyd Wyk…your friend is here. I think we'd know by now if he was."

"He is," Rocky insisted. "I got a text. He types really slowly and he hates technology, so he wouldn't bother unless it was important. He said Billy was supposed to pick him up, but things were taking a while and he was afrai---he thought maybe Billy had had a change of plans. Billy tends to be really impulsive, and he expects people to somehow psychically know when he's changed his mind, probably because that's how it works with his clones…actually I don't think that's how it works, but that's what everybody else thinks, and he hasn't bothered to correct anybody yet, so---"

"Okay! Just…be quiet, please. You're going way too fast for me to follow."

Rocky gave him a slow, sharp look. "I'm not going fast at all."

"Maybe that bike did mess you up a little. Sit down," Aqualad pushed him into a chair. "Um, stay there. Please. And…don't touch anything."

"I'm not Seymour," Rocky said, glaring at him. "I'm not interested in your wallet or your light fixtures. Whatever, man."

Aqualad added rapid mood swings to his mental list of reasons to fetch a straight jacket. He decided to find Raven and ask her about the effects of hellish motor-bikes.

Rocky could feel his communicator buzzing in his pocket, and he ignored it. Either it was another text from Elliot, and he couldn't do anything in that case, or it was a message from Billy, which he didn't want to do anything about. Or it was a message from Johnny panicking over his bike, which he definitely didn't want to do anything about just yet. He wondered when his pulse was going to slow down, and when his hands were going to stop shaking. Johnny never acted like this after going somewhere on the bike, but maybe that was a matter of not having a pulse, or maybe of not having a soul. Living with a guy really gave you insight to creepy shit, Rocky thought reflectively.

As soon as the boat was near land, Billy leapt out and ran up to the Tower entrance as if his life depended on it, leaving Kitten to struggle with parking. When he found Rocky sitting in a chair looking shell-shocked, he did not hesitate to instigate a lecture:

"First of all, you do NOT take Johnny's bike and just drive it wherever you want without telling somebody because that thing is insane and it'll suck your soul out! Second of all, if you fucking dare tell Johnny that it was ME this time I'll…I'll…I will bash your head to bits with a baseball bat! And I fucking mean it! Are you listening to me? Rowan Nielsen Cook! Are you listening?"

Finally Rocky looked up and glared at him. "Don't use my full name. What took you so long?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I wouldn't have had to take anybody's bike if you had done what you were supposed to. What took you so long to get here? Now I've got that guy on my case, and I swear he thinks I'm completely insane."

"I can't fucking teleport! Traffic sucked, is that my fault? If Elliot can't stop and think that maybe other people can't---"

"He got hit in the head, how clear is he supposed to be thinking? You guys are so hard on him, no wonder he doesn't tell you anything!"

Kitten was just walking in at that point, and Billy was forced to rein things in a little. "And just what," he said slowly, "is that supposed to mean?"

"Boys," Kitten said sharply, "play nicely and share your toys." She crossed over to hug Rocky, who grudgingly let her.

"Are you okay?" She crooned. "You could have at least worn a helmet."

"Helmets are for little kids," he mumbled into her shoulder.

"What did you mean?" Billy demanded. "When you said---"

"Nothing," said Rocky. "I was just making stuff up. You know, lying? You don't have a problem with that, do you?" He added playfully.

Billy resisted the urge to hit him and hit the wall instead. "This is so not the time for that, you little punk."

"Oh…oh, god damn it!" Someone pronounced precisely behind them. They turned around and saw Aqualad holding a cup of cold water and looking very irritated.

"We just did all this yesterday," He said rather petulantly. "I am not ready to do it again!" He handed the drink to Rocky and stomped to the door. "I'll be out here, out of the way of things, until you're gone. Don't tell anybody where I am, and I won't tell anybody I saw you. Don't touch anything," he added specifically to Billy and Kitten, and exited with as much dignity as he could muster.

Raven paced irritably about her room. "Shouldn't they be here right now?"

Elliot had stubbornly crossed his arms over his head and refused to acknowledge her in any way.

She had, eventually, fetched a medical kit and tried to tend to his bleeding head. He had bared his teeth, literally bared his teeth, and snarled at her like some kind of animal. No doubt anyone else would have called animal control and had him dragged away, but Raven lived with a boy who transformed into all kinds of dogs, so she knew better than to react. However, she was also a being of mystical powers from another dimension, and she knew better than to bother a skittish, bleeding teleporter.

She sat down to meditate and scan the building for activity. Most of the Titans had been sent out on patrol to keep an eye out for any activity, so she was not too worried about Billy encountering trouble trying to get into Titan's Tower. The idea of having him involved in any of this business irked her, to say the least, but it irked her a lot less than the idea of anyone finding out that she had been responsible for reading Jinx's diaries.

Raven was possessive, now, of the knowledge that Jinx had, at one point in her life, idolized her. She was not accustomed to being admired in anything beyond a "Well aren't you just the bravest little toaster" sentiment shared by many of her new teammates, and the sad nods of her old friends. Many of her facts were wrong, or quoted out of context, but still, it was all very flattering and unfamiliar.

To be honest, Raven had mostly been ignoring Jinx's presence since her arrival. There were a few run-ins, such as the bumps they had in the hallway or during a patrol, and there had been a few more memorable ones in the beginning. It had been books, as Raven recalled. With the arrival of so many new people, everyone's books had sort of melded together into a huge library that was passed about with abandon. Raven had still kept a few particular things close, since they were potentially dangerous and mostly in foreign languages anyway. But one had somehow made it into the mix, and hadn't been recovered until Raven had overheard Kid Flash asking Jinx about her latest read.

"What is that, Arabic?" Kid Flash had squinted over his girlfriend's shoulder at the letters.

Jinx had smirked and shooed him away. "I'm getting to the good part."

"How are you even reading that? That's not going left to right, is it? Is that…is it going in circles?"

"Yeah, a little. Big deal. Is it just not right if it's not going your way?" Jinx had teased. "It makes sense if you just sort of…stop paying attention."

At that point Raven had finally recognized the cover, and very thoughtlessly exclaimed that she had been looking for that book for weeks. Jinx had turned bright red, snapped the book shut, and handed it to her wordlessly. When prompted by her boyfriend, she explained that it had been lying on the table and had looked interesting.

Raven had assumed her reaction had been that of the general reaction to Raven's presence, one of fear and uncertainty. Looking back, it had probably sounded to Jinx as if Raven had accused her of stealing the book.

Raven frowned. For an ex-villainess reputed for being a tough, smart little cookie, this girl was awfully sensitive.

Of course, there was always the possibility that these admirable feelings had died and Jinx now hated her passionately for ever having been an objective. And when you considered the other women she had picked for role models---Madame Rouge especially---the admiration became less of a compliment.

Elliot rolled over on her bed and moaned softly. Raven tried not to think about the possibility of his blood on her sheets.

"Can we stop by Starbucks?" Seymour whined from the back seat.

Montego kept his eyes steady on the road and said, "Nope. You're still grounded."

Seymour pulled his face melodramatically. "Grounded? But it's been a whole day!"

"Yeah, and it'll be longer before I'm letting you out of my sight."

"I'm not grounded," Vito said thoughtfully. "Could you drop me off here?"

Montego glanced at the street and shops around them. For a HIVE student, it was the equivalent of the middle of nowhere. "What for?"

"I'm not grounded, so I don't have to tell you. I'm one less kid to deal with," Vito added when he saw Montego's look. "And that's something, isn't it?"

Montego grunted and pulled over. "Be back at seven."

"We'll see," the genius snorted, and slammed the door shut. It was just a few minutes walk back to the police station, where Jinx was still waiting for Cyborg. Roy had gotten bored and gone ahead back to the Tower.

"Are they still not done with the alien retard?" Vito snapped as he kicked his way back into the police station. "This is ridiculous. Jaya, you've got a total in on this whole operation. Why can't you convince these guys that DUIs are stupid and there are bigger things in life?"

She crossed her arms. "Did you forget something?"

"Are the guys still here?"

Jinx rolled her eyes. "They went out to get a drink and reminisce about the good old days before Slade set the bar for world domination."

"Drama queens," Vito set himself up in one of the waiting chairs and flipped open his laptop. "I thought you might like to know that you're wasting your time. We've got this Psimon thing covered. We're pretty much doing your entire job for you. Don't thank us or anything, or we'll feel bad and stop helping."

"Which is why you guys were so freaked out that you stayed up the entire night talking about it," Jinx snorted, kneeling beside his chair. "The signs were easy to recognize. Was I really that bitchy after no sleep and two cups of coffee?"

"Worse when you were PMSing. Tell the Titans to stay off the bridge, the northern highway, and all of our streets. They'll just be in the way."

Jinx absorbed this and nodded. After a few moments, she asked, "What do you want for your birthday?"

"Will you drop this birthday thing? I don't care. It's probably not even my real birthday."

"Birthdays are very important. And fourteen is the big one."

"Sixteen is the big one."

"Fourteen is better. Fourteen is when people start talking to you like you can understand them. That's way better than staying out late. What do you want for your birthday?"

Vito rolled his eyes. "Coal in my stocking."

"Wrong holiday."

"No, duh," Vito paused in his work to give her question real consideration. "World domination."

"Not within my power."

"God, are you good for anything?" Vito frowned. "Break up with that stupid fire crotch."

"Also not within my power."

"So he's dominant within the relationship. That must suck."

"No, he is not dominant. Love is dominant, if you'll pardon the sentimentality."

"I won't."

"Too bad." Jinx sighed. "Were you really mad?"

"No. I expected it. I think we all did, in a way. You've always been idealistic and unrealistic, and you're easily bored."

"That's true." Jinx bit her lip. "Do you think I'm mad at him because he's gotten boring? I'm not that heartless, am I?"

Vito raised his eyebrows. "It's possible. You got bored with Stone. But he must have been pretty damn exciting for you guys to stick together for five months."

"But I still think he's really fun," Jinx insisted. "We have stimulating conversation and stuff."

Vito smirked. " 'And stuff'. Gross."

"Shut up!" Jinx slapped him lightly. "I wasn't mad until you guys showed up."

"Of course you weren't mad. You had no reason to be," said Vito. "And then you got mad and snapped out of it and realized how bored you were. Life's really boring when you're not mad at something. You must have been really out of it."

"I'm having trouble with my powers again."

"Define trouble."

"Stuff blows up when I stop thinking about it."

"Is that a problem? Beyond the usual, I mean?"

"It stopped while I was with him."

Vito wrinkled his nose. "Way to get all lovey-dovey on me."

"Sorry. But that's how it was. I really liked it."

"Well, if you liked it so much, stop being so pissed off."

"Thanks a lot. You just might be getting a nice big lump of coal after all."

Vito laughed. "That's all I ever asked for."

They heard the sound of argument from the back, and Vito straightened up in his seat. "You'd better start ignoring me again so they won't be suspicious."

Jinx pretended she hadn't heard him. She wasn't sure how much she really cared about it all anymore. And it was only Cyborg.

And Xilo.

"Ugh," his lip curled. "You're here."

"Your face," Jinx said without looking at him.

"Your mom," he replied automatically, and turned back to Cyborg. "Can I go now?"

"Do you have a ride? I think Billy took off."

"I hope he did. I hate it when he gets with Kitten. They're such a clingy couple."

"So they are official," Vito said.

"I don't know. Seemed like it. I was concentrating on driving."

"If you can call it that," Cyborg said drily.

"Whatever. I was driving better than most sober humans," Xilo sneered.

"Can I get a ride back to the Tower?" Jinx asked. "Roy's fun for one ride, but two is a little much for one day."

"That's what she said!" Xilo cracked, and he and Vito laughed. Cyborg joined in eventually, and Jinx waited patiently for them all to finish.

"Yeah, girl, of course you can get a ride," Cyborg finally snickered, and added to Xilo, "You're coming too. I want to have a proper talk with you."

"Can I come too?" Vito asked. "I need to do a follow-up with somebody."

"I guess. As long as it's relevant."

"Very relevant," Vito assured him. "This person is more relevant than you can imagine."

Somewhere within the Tower, Robin shivered proverbially.