"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's Notes: Yes, I am alive! Same disclaimers apply here, as they always have. I think the AU meter is going to start creeping up as the story progresses, just to let you know.

Chapter 6
Corruption

Wayne Enterprises...

Swindle never thought he'd actually have to break into this building in his entire life. There wasn't anything he personally would find useful in there, nor was it worth the trouble to try picking the ultra-complex locks and bypassing the security checkpoints for a gadget or two...

He also never dreamed he'd actually be running for his life through its hallways.

They had gotten into the building easily enough. For some odd reason, the access hatch in the roof is never guarded. They proceeded to ambush one of the squads of security guards and steal the keycard for the storage rooms. Upon securing the regulator chip, another quartet of guards tried to ambush them in return.

Swindle dealt with two of the guards by using a roundhouse sweep while Jinx and SeeMore threw the remaining two into the wall with their energy blasts. This sent the entire building into red alert status, bringing the trio to their current predicament.

They were now running like crazy amid a storm of gunfire, with Swindle occasionally turning to fling a handful of knives at their attackers. After rounding several corners and hiding in the shadows of the corridor, they managed to shake the guards for the time being.

As soon as he was sure they were out of earshot, Swindle breathed a sigh of relief, "That was mighty close..."

SeeMore tapped the rogue's shoulder, "And getting closer." He pointed to the squad of troopers standing fifteen feet away from them with their weapons aimed and ready.

"Just hand over the chip and nobody gets hurt," the squad leader informed them.

"Umm, okay," Swindle replied, earning slack-jawed expressions from his teammates. "Here, catch!"

Without any other warning, Swindle tossed the container at them in a high, arcing lob. As the guards tensed up to grab the container out of the air, the rogue was already upon them. Vicious elbow smashes brought two guards down before they even knew what was happening. A few slashes of the thief's daggers dismembered another guard's weapon before a hard kick to the face sent him sprawling. Swindle then grabbed the end of the last guard's gun, tore it out of his hands, and used it as an improvised club. With all four guards knocked out, Swindle tossed the gun aside just in time to catch the container as it came back down.

"Guess I kinda lied about that, seein' as how you guys did get hurt," the rogue said with a smirk.

"More company's coming..." Jinx groaned, looking over her shoulder as the sounds of booted feet thumped towards them. "Can we get out of here now? Please?"

Swindle glanced about the hallway in search of a stairway and found one leading upward at the far end, "Yeah, right up there. Let's move!"

The trio quickly ascended the stairs, but SeeMore noticed yet another group of soldiers heading their way from the opposite end of the corridor. After a warning shout to his friends, the cyclopian fired off a ball of red energy from his single eye. A moment of silence followed, broken only by a muffled explosion and several shouts of surprise and pain.

"Nice Spot check, See," the thief remarked with a grin. "Now, let's keep moving. Who knows how many more troops Mr. Wayne has on reserve."

They continued running down hall after hall and up stairway after stairway. At last, they had reached the rooftop with several more security guards hot on their heels.

"Move outta the way. I'll buy us some time," Jinx ordered, fixing her gaze upon the large Y that loomed over them. Once Swindle and SeeMore were clear, she chanted a few arcane words and threw a curved bolt of pink energy at the supports for the sign. She then did a backwards handspring to avoid the falling structure, so that it slammed down on the access panel and pinned it shut.

"There. Now, let's get back to the academy. I'm tired, sweaty, and desperately in need of a freshening-up," the sorceress informed her friends while nervously fluffing her hair.

"You look fine to me..." Swindle mused shortly before Jinx's sharp glare caused him to rephrase himself. "Right, right. Sorry. I'll get us outta here," he said quickly while attaching a grappling line to the fallen letter and handed the firing device to SeeMore. He pointed to a small button near the thumb-grip, "See that? Hit that release switch once you an' Jinx are over the side. You'll drop right down to the sidewalk."

"What about you?"

"I'll cover you two. That blockade probably won't hold up forever, so I wanna make sure you're on solid ground first."

The thief's friends exchanged concerned glances before several loud thuds erupted from the blocked hatch. Swindle turned to focus on the panel before glancing over his shoulder again.

He scowled at both of them and shouted, "What the hell're ya waitin' for! MOVE!"

Jinx and SeeMore nodded rapidly and began their descent, with the sorceress holding onto See's shoulders. Just as the two of them disappeared past the ledge, the access panel was blown off by an explosive charge. Swindle gripped one of his daggers tightly while he prepared a few throwing knives for the guards' arrival. The instant he saw a helmeted head pop up through the rubble, he sent the whole handful flying. Many of them clanged noisily off the metal of the sign and caused a brief moment of retreat, just enough to ensure the rogue a clean getaway of his own.

A few wall-jumps later, Swindle was reunited with his comrades on the street below just as a hailstorm of gunfire fell from the rooftop. Swindle shielded himself with his daggers while he tossed the chip to his cyclopian friend and gestured for a full withdrawal. Jinx cast one last spell at the large sign, which rusted out the supports to the "W" and sent it crashing down around the guards' heads. All three were smiling confidently as they were certain that they were going to get the chip back to the headmaster without any more problems. However, one last obstacle stood in their way just a few miles down the street.

"Great," muttered the rogue, "the Teen Titans again..."

He noticed that Cyborg wasn't with them, a curious bit of information. He also could've sworn he had heard Beast Boy mention something about not getting it past "Booyah" mode, which really made Swindle wonder...

"Fight them," a small and familiar voice suddenly spoke to him. Startled, Swindle looked over his shoulder for the voice but found nothing. Neither Jinx nor SeeMore had spoke... No, it couldn't be...

"Return that chip. Fight the Titans!"

Was it Brother Blood's voice speaking to him again? Perhaps it was, for he caught a glimpse of Jinx's eyes flaring with dark red energy... Hadn't he shaken that off? He tried to shake off the domination, but this time his thieving instincts started to push him in the opposite direction.

"FIGHT! Fight to WIN!"

"Fight... to win..."

Without another moment's worth of thought, Swindle put up his fists and assumed his combat stance. Whether he was acting on his own free will or not wasn't known to him. All he knew was that he was putting every bit of force into his punches and using everything he'd learned from his classes into his technique. He didn't even seem to be bothered by the fact that his opponent was a very bewildered Tamaranean girl who had been his friend for but three weeks. He heard her pleas to stop, but did not heed them. At one point, he managed to knock Starfire to the ground with a wicked roundhouse kick and prepared to finish the Titan off when his eyes suddenly flew wide open and shone with renewed clarity.

"What... What am I doing?"

Swindle's hands fell to his sides as he stared aghast at what he'd done. Starfire could only look up at her former friend with a familiar pain squeezing at her heart. A pain that she'd felt not too long ago and hoped she'd never feel again. The rogue looked down to meet her gaze and felt a similar pain in his chest, only this time it was shame and remorse that overtook him. He quickly turned his head away and spoke to his allies with a somber voice.

"Guys, fall back."

SeeMore dodged a combined staff-and-tail-slap attack, "Say what? We can't run now!"

"We gotta get this chip back. This fighting's only gonna slow us down. Fall. Back." Swindle repeated.

"The headmaster made him the leader, SeeMore. Besides, he does have a point about the chip," Jinx replied after tumbling out of the path of Raven's shadowbolts.

Begrudgingly, the other two students broke off from combat and started sprinting back in the direction of the academy. Only Swindle remained behind for a moment, with his eyes still cast to the ground and unable to bring himself to look at Starfire again.

The Titan girl spoke softly, her voice quaking just a little, "Swipe, can this really be true? You have joined the Hive? You are... evil?"

Swindle grimaced at her last word as if it had pierced him. Through gritted teeth, he answered her with a quiet "I'm sorry" and dashed off without another word.

Robin helped Starfire to her feet, "Are you okay, Star?"

A few tears gathered in her eyes as she drew her arms up around herself, "No... I do not believe that I am..."

That night, when Swindle returned to his room, he sat at the edge of his bed and stared at the T-comm he'd practically earned from the Titans after helping them defeat Slade. The pained look in Starfire's bright green eyes haunted him, as did the mesmerized glow that lingered in Jinx's. The rogue gripped the device tightly in his hand and, swearing aloud, threw it to the far side of his room. For the first time in his life, he had no idea what he was going to do next.

He flopped onto his back and tried his best to fall asleep. Like so many nights before, he didn't expect much success.

On the other side of Jump City, Starfire remained in her room for the remainder of the night. She never even tried to go to sleep, and no amount of mustard could cheer her up.

End of Chapter 6

In Chapter 7 - Swindle must keep up the appearance of being a Hive student as he tries to cope with what he's done. Matters are made worse when a certain sorceress starts to take a liking to a certain other newcomer to the academy...

Author's Notes: After watching "Lightspeed," I believe I see a mind-bending duel between two fellows with super-speed in the future. Striking similarities in that episode, wouldn't you say?