A/N: So sorry this was late. There was a storm in my area last night that knocked out my power, preventing me from updating. Hope you guys like it! (I sure don't...)
Disclaimer: Disclaimed.
There were days when Jinx really disliked her job.
They were, admittedly, very few and far between, but they occurred nonetheless.
Those days usually coincided with fights with Wally, or news that one of her old HIVE friends had been acting up.
Or the days when people automatically assumed that just because she was a girl, and Kid Flash's girlfriend, meant that she was damsel in distress material, completely ignoring her history as an aspiring villainess, her position of leader of the Titans Europe, and her claim to fame as the fourth most accomplished martial artist within the overall Titans network. (Robin, Batgirl, and Bushido were slightly more accomplished. But that didn't mean she couldn't take them in a fight.)
But no, people always assumed that since she was a girl, she was helpless.
Dammit, why were these people so sexist. Yes, they were villains, but that didn't mean they had to be politically incorrect!
The cause of that particular bad day probably had to do with the fact that she had been taken hostage. For the eight time that month.
Jinx woke up with the taste of pennies in her mouth (chloroform; cliché, but effective); tied to a chair in the center of a cell that was about eight-by-eight feet. From the low ceiling, a single dingy bulb hung, clearly for dramatic effect, since the cell was well-lit. The walls were crudely white-washed cement, and a single closed-circuit camera with a little red LED light hung from the corner, probably to draw attention away from the two hidden ones. There was a bucket in the corner, along with three bottles of water and a large stack of high-protein, non-perishable foods, all of which she couldn't reach, because she was handcuffed to the chair. Jinx rolled her eyes at that. Clearly, her captor(s) (whoever he/she/they was/were, she wasn't quite sure yet) was/were trying to give her the impression that she would be here a while. The final wall of her cell included was bars, revealing a wall of dingy plaster and a hallway on the other side. Jinx blew a loose hair out of her face, evaluating the threat. She decided that she was looking at a moderately competent, fond of playing up the clichés and stereotypes, probable prior experience in this scenario.
Jinx sighed, and twisted her hands, channeling her power, and the handcuffs that had been holding her hands behind her back fell off. Another gesture got rid of the plastic ties that had fastened her feet to the legs of the chair, and a final one knocked out all three cameras and the listening device attached to the underside of the chair.
She stood up, massaging her temples in an attempt to calm the raging headache that was beginning, and then turned her attention to the bars of her cell.
She snapped her fingers, attempting to blast them apart, but the bars merely absorbed her power. Frowning, she stepped forward, examining them.
She ran her fingers down the length of the steel, finding her answer engraved into the bar. Two small magical symbols, (Indian symbols, Jinx decided after a moment, not that it really mattered) gave the bars the ability to absorb all magical energy thrown at them, making them stronger each time. It would actually have been a very good system… if her captor(s) hadn't overlooked the fact that the bars were surrounded by simple concrete, which she could blast her way through easily.
Jinx raised her hand, and fired above and around the bars, sending flakes of whitewash everywhere. She then delivered a well-placed kick to the cell-door, sending the entire collection of iron bars into the hallway with a delightful clang. Jinx grinned, and then strode out.
It was time to show her captor(s) that she was not a damsel in distress.
Jinx kicked open the first door she came across, and froze.
Before her was a large library, full of books and fireplaces and spiral staircases and portraits and everything else that was cliché for a super-villain library.
But… it was the details that made her freeze. The books were as tall as she was, the bookshelves were gigantic and ominous, and, most tellingly, the portrait above the fireplace was of Mad Mod.
Jinx glowered. "Mod!" She shouted, calling her power to her fingertips. "You here?"
There wasn't an answer.
Jinx stalked into the room, and mounted the first spiral staircase she came across, determined to continue her search for the illusionist.
As she took her first step, the stairs became a slide, and Jinx slid back down. Undaunted, Jinx leapt onto the handrail, and began to climb her way up. When she reached the halfway point, the stairs remerged, and Jinx waited for a few more feet before opting to complete the staircase normally.
The trip up the rest of the staircase was… eventful. Three of the stairs disappeared while she stood on them, one blew up, and one even attempted to launch her into the air. But she grabbed the door and wrenched it open, revealing… the library. The same one she had just left. Jinx pulled back, looking down at the room she was standing over. There was a plummeting feeling in her stomach as her eyes informed her that she was somehow in a bell tower instead of the library. She looked back in the room behind the door. That room was now a hallway of wonky mirrors.
"So that's how you want to play it," she said, eyes glowing. Problem was, Jinx was always very bad at playing games the way people wanted her to.
She gritted her teeth, and launched herself over the side of the railing, extending her hands and throwing out wave after wave of unadulterated entropy.
Pink waves ripped through green screens and tore through morphic furniture. Rose-colored lightning destroyed disguised robotic minions and annihilated moving walls. Bad luck energy to destroy hypno-screens and other hidden machinery, and Jinx grinned as she fell towards the floor.
Jinx had always enjoyed trashing the enemy's toys. This was no exception.
She landed on the floor with a slight wince, and then raised her hands above her head and slashed downward, ripping through the very ground that she was standing on.
Sure enough, she fell into a large white room, where her teammates and Mad Mod were beginning a showdown.
"What, you started without me?" Jinx quipped, smirking. "I'm hurt."
Prompt: Geometries of a Mad Man
A/N: Yeah... this will be continued next week. I hope it gets better...
Hinn-Raven