"Swindle" by Ed Alger (a.k.a. SecondLevelWriter)
Author's Notes and Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers listed in the last chapters still apply here. If you have any questions, press F1 for Help. Fear the (AU) tag!

Chapter 7
Competition

The next morning, Swindle trudged his way to class with Billy Numerous soon meeting his stride.

"Dang, Swindle! What side of th' bed didja get up on today? Ya look like death warmed over!"

"Not now, Numerous. I didn't get much sleep last night and I'm not a morning person."

Billy stopped short and watched the grouchy thief walk on, "Sheesh, s'not like Ah ment it personal-like..."

Further ahead, the rogue ran into Jinx. She noticed the extreme fatigue in his face and body and gave him a look of concern.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" she asked him.

Swindle shook his head, "Barely an hour and a half... Why?"

"I got maybe two hours in. Something kept bothering me about what had happened..."

"What d'you mean?"

Jinx gestured for him to follow her to the gymnasium and kept her voice down while she explained, "I haven't told anyone else about this, but I get these... I don't know... these weird feelings... feelings like there's something inside me that's screaming to get out."

At last, some promising news.

"Like what?" he prodded.

"Take the other week, when we were at the bank. I don't know why, but I felt like I didn't want to fight Starfire. I felt like she'd been my friend at some point, but..." She nervously laughed it off, "Come on. Me, befriending a Teen Titan? That'd be like Mammoth saying he was gonna get low-fat ice cream!" They both gave a little chuckle at the notion, although the rogue tried to hide the sadness in his.

Jinx continued, "But last night, something else felt familiar. Like... Like I had been sneaking around someplace with someone before, but..." She let out a growl of frustration, "It's there! I know it's there! But, I can never recall who..."

The rogue grasped at the gold bracelet on his belt loop and mumbled, "I wish you would..."

"What?"

He shook his head, "Nothing." After a brief silence, Swindle noticed where they were going and asked his friend, "Hey, um, why're we goin' to the gym?"

"Don't you remember what I said yesterday? We've got Combat Practice. You, me, the guys, and Stone."

The rogue gave his friend a quizzical look, "Who the hell's St--? Oh, right. The new guy."

They each opened a door to the gym and found the others waiting, including Brother Blood. Swindle heaved a heavy sigh upon seeing the obstacle course ready and waiting for him, and felt what little stamina he had drain swiftly away. He felt a pat on his shoulder.

"I know how you feel, Swindle, believe me. Still, we have to put on a good show for the headmaster," Jinx replied quietly before running the rest of the way to greet her companions.

Swindle approached the starting platform like a drugged bear, giving only vague nods to the others. Even through his sleep-deprived haze, he noticed that Stone bore a striking resemblance to Cyborg... that is, if Cyborg were all human. Maybe he's got a brother or something?

The panel they were standing on suddenly started to rise, stopping when it was twelve feet high. All five took on their battle stances, although Swindle was last to do so.

The ending platform rose up on the farthest side of the room soon after. Everyone tensed, as Jinx said over her shoulder, "Gamma maneuver!"

Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth all leapt from the platform in formation, leaving Stone to yell in desperation, "Hold up! I don't know the Gamma maneuver!"

Swindle drew his daggers and made a lackluster attempt at his own jump, "It's okay. I don't either. Just keep runnin' forward and kick the ass outta anything not-human." After a short moment to collect his strength, he gritted his teeth and tore off after his friends, immediately going to work on cutting down a pair of drones that were already threatening Jinx. Stone shrugged and followed suit shortly after, transmuting into his stone body and hammer-punching through the droids that his companion left behind.

The run seemed about the same to the rogue, which actually was a good thing. Gizmo's missiles wiped out the wall-mounted turrets and nothing else seemed to be getting in their way.

"I'm gonna finish fir-rst! I'm gonna finish fir-rst!" the little cyberpunk started singing as he streaked towards the finish line with his jetpack. His celebration was cut short when a new feature made itself known: several metallic spikes burst up from the floor, threatening to impale Gizmo. A few skilled maneuvers saw him through, while brute strength and a more direct approach worked better for Mammoth. Swindle simply zigzagged through the metal forest, never once having to cut through with his daggers. Meanwhile, Stone found himself overwhelmed by four of the combat drones and was still pinned down just yards in front of the starting platform.

Gizmo snickered and pointed at the helpless transmute, "Hey, lookit, the newbie's already toasted!"

"Hey, Rocko! Had enough yet or what?" Mammoth joined in the taunting, until Jinx ran up to scold them.

"Stop fooling around! The headmaster's watching!" she pointed up into the stands where the stately villain was indeed looking on.

Swindle ran past the three of them and cut down another spike, adding mostly to himself, "Unless he's holding up a 'Swindle 3:16' sign, I'm not even gonna turn around."

Three more ground turrets sprouted up behind the rogue and sent out metallic tentacles after the others. Jinx was immediately wrapped up in one and held aloft, followed by Gizmo and Mammoth. Swindle turned back to help just as Stone managed to break away from his captors. The rogue indicated his targets with his daggers and his partner nodded. Just as they were about to perform their ad libbed strike, a pair of turrets sprung up and immediately charged their cannons.

"Dude! Watch out behind ya!" Swindle shouted just before flinging a few knives at the tentacles to try to cut down his friends. The metal plating was tougher than he thought, as the projectiles clinked harmlessly off of them. A loud string of various curses soon followed.

Seeing this, Stone changed his plan in mid-execution. Instead, he leapt over his entangled comrades and pulled a couple of panels from the floor. He then spun around once to fling them at the tentacles like gigantic frisbees, thereby freeing the others and also taking out the two cannons in the process. Swindle helped pull Gizmo and Mammoth free while Stone assisted Jinx, then made a mad scramble towards the finish line to finally put the test to and end.

"Well, that woke me up..." Swindle grunted while he sheathed his daggers.

Stone, meanwhile, was celebrating quite noisily, "Awww yeah! Now that's what I'm talki---"

"Can it! The headmaster's comin'!" Gizmo sharply cut him off.

Sure enough, Brother Blood was descending on his levitating platform and he already sounded preturbed, "YOU! You've broken into my school, destroyed my gymnasium, and made my best students look like amateur pickpockets!"

"I can't help it that I'm having an off d-MMPH!" Swindle nearly protested, but Mammoth's huge hand stopped him short.

Blood continued, still focusing a steely glare upon Stone, "You think you're pretty clever, don't you? Well, you are not clever..."

Everybody in the room remained tense, waiting to see what would happen to the newcomer.

"... You're brilliant! Skills like yours are invaluable to the academy! Well done!"

The tension was relieved, and nobody was breathing a heavier sigh of relief than Stone. "Uh, thanks! Nice... school you have here, Mister... uh..."

"Blood, Brother Blood. At your service." They shook hands in official greeting before the headmaster continued, "I see a very bright future ahead for you, young man." His tone soon changed, however, when he turned to face the others, "And as for you three..."

Swindle wisely decided to take a very large step to his right to avoid being caught in the verbal barrage. The remaining trio was already cowering before the yelling had even started.

"Failure will NOT be tolerated in this academy! You are already here on a second chance and if you EVER fail me again, I'LL SEND YOU TO YOUR DOOM! Is that clear?"

The three students' eyes briefly glowed red as they answered in monotoned unison, "Yes, sir."

Swindle took a chance and cleared his throat, "Um, Teach? Jinx an' I probably didn't do our best because of our mission last night. It went on pretty late because of our run-in with the Titans."

Brother Blood raised an eyebrow, "I suppose that's true... Very well, I'll let you off the hook this time. But next time..."

"Send us to our doom. Right. Gotcha." the rogue was already climbing down on his way out the door, too tired to care if he would get in trouble or not. "I think I left my pillow... I mean, bookbag... in my room. I'll be back in about forty winks... minutes... seconds... somethin'."

The headmaster's left eye twitched at the insolent remark, making those who saw it cringe with fear. Instead, he cleared his throat and addressed the students, "Just to let you know, I will personally be having a lecture in room 219 tomorrow. I'd like as many of you to be there, including you, Swindle."

There was a noticable twitch in the rogue's posture when he heard his name. Just as he turned around to ask why he had to be there, he noticed something else that made his heart nearly stop. Jinx was looking rather fondly at Stone.

"Thanks for, um, getting me- er, us out of that trap, Stone," he could hear her say. Her cheeks showed just a hint of a blush, which made Swindle's jaw drop further. Stone only scratched at the back of his head and said nothing, looking quite nervous and embarrassed in this position. Nobody could hear the sound of the rogue's teeth grinding...

Even after his first-period nap, Swindle went back to his room to spend his lunch break. After everything that had happened, he didn't have much of an appetite. He'd lost the trust of the Titans, hurt Starfire in the process, and now the idea of saving Jinx was beginning to slip further and further away from him.

He fished the communicator out of his duffel bag and stared at it for a moment. If anything, there was at least one thing he could make right at that moment. Swindle pressed the call button and waited. For several minutes, there was no answer.

"Come on, I know one of you's out there," he muttered to himself.

After several more presses, Starfire's face appeared on the screen. She said not a word, and only stared at him with those piercing emerald eyes. He almost wished that she would just blast him and get it over with.

It took a moment for the rogue to find his voice again, "S-Starfire... I'm... I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you... but, I..."

The hurt in her eyes showed clearly again as she bit her lower lip. Without another word, the communicator disconnected. Swindle's heart sank as he sat there, still gazing blankly into the darkened screen.

"Well, Swipe," he muttered to himself, "you've really done it this time..."

The bell signaling the end of lunch took him out of his melancholy thoughts, prompting him to grab his bag and head out for the next class. On his way, he heard some familiar sniggering in a nearby hallway and decided to investigate. He found Gizmo first, who only looked over his shoulder and exploded into more laughter.

"The hell's so funny?" the rogue asked with a tilted head. Gizmo only pointed towards something further down the hall. Swindle followed the finger to the silhouette of a rather large guy in a ballerina's outfit.

Wait, what?

The guy turned out to be Stone and, as Mammoth later explained, this was his initiation. Stone was to accompany Jinx to her next class and carry her books for her, all while wearing a bright pink tutu. Just as they were getting ready to venture out into public view, Swindle volunteered to join them. All three walked out into the main hall and were instantly met with gales of laughter from the other students. Jinx walked ahead with an almost blissful look on her face, perhaps at the thought of Stone's sacrificing his dignity for them... for her.

Halfway down, Swindle decided to try cheering both himself and Stone up a little, "Hey, look at it this way. It could've been worse."

"How?" the transmute muttered back.

"Gizmo wanted me to wear a chicken outfit."

"I think I'd rather wear that..."

While the rogue gave a lighthearted laugh, a small thorn had already begun to dig its way into his heart.

End of Chapter 7

In Chapter 8 - Things couldn't be worse for Swindle. Jinx has fallen for Stone, the Titans no longer trust him, and there's a dance looming just around the corner.