"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's notes: All disclaimers from past chapters still apply here. Check the end for new ones. You know, to preserve any spoilers. The AU tag may as well become a permanent thing now, I'm changing stuff around so much.

Chapter 15
Destruction

Swindle and Bumblebee stayed several paces behind Jinx and Cyborg to allow them some time to talk. The hexer's gaze shifted from her former crush to the floor and back again as she walked. Cyborg dared not to speak a word for fear that an adamantine dagger might get stuck in his back if he said the wrong thing. Jinx decided to finally break the long silence.

"Why did you do that?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you lead me along when you knew there was no way we could be together?"

"Jinx, listen, I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean for it to happen."

Jinx snorted, "Yeah, right. Like you didn't mean for the academy to get blown up, right? I never would've thought that you Titans had such mean streaks."

Cyborg sighed. He couldn't believe what he did, either. The relationship was really doomed from the start. He was a Teen Titan, and she was one of their enemies. There would always have been an element of uncertainty, of distrust. His heart overrode his memory banks, and now he was sorry that Jinx was the one to suffer for it. He wanted her to be happy again, and there was really only one way to do that now.

"So, there's nothing I can do to make up for it?"

"What d'you mean? How can you make up for tearing my heart out and stomping on it with those big, metal clodhoppers of yours?"

Cyborg's face suddenly broke out into a wide grin, making her and the rogue behind her a little suspicious.

"What if I told you that I could make all this go away; me, the academy, Brother Blood. Everything."

Jinx gave him a quizzical look, "Why would I want to get away from the academy?"

"Because it's not where you belong. Your home's at the Shady Lake Motel."

The hexer's blood froze. That name sounded disturbingly familiar.

"You remember what I said last time?"

She slowly nodded.

"He's been here the whole time."

Jinx looked up and followed Cyborg's nod to where Swindle and Bumblebee were walking. Another brief spike of pain hit her mind as more memories fought for freedom. She turned away again and groaned, clutching at her forehead all the while.

"You okay?"

"Ugh... Just a headache..."

Swindle must have noticed this, because he was now just a step and a half behind them again.

"What's up?"

"N-Nothing, Swindle... Another headache... I'll be okay."

"Guys, we're getting close to the oversight center," Bumblebee informed them as she caught up. "Are you sure you want to do this, Jinx?"

The sorceress nodded, still trying to massage the pain from her forehead. In her mind's eye, she caught a fleeting glimpse of a simple room with only a couch, a beanbag chair, and a television set in it. He was sitting there, but she could still only see him in silhouette. Swindle's voice would quickly snap her out of the vision.

"What made you decide to do this, anyway? You never told me on the way up."

"Because... the night I heard you singing, I had another dream. This time, I saw myself in it."

"Really?"

"I know it sounds weird, but it's true. She told me that someone took my memories away from me, took someone important from me as well. I think the one who did this is... is Brother Blood."

Everyone seemed to skip a step at the mention of the headmaster. Jinx continued to speak.

"If the dreams are right, then I want to know why he did this to me. I want to know why he had to erase something from my mind to keep me at the academy. I'm not about to let anyone get away with something like this, not even if it's the headmaster."

Jinx's voice steadily gained strength and conviction as she spoke. Swindle could swear he was hearing his Jinxie coming back out. Cyborg also noticed it and gave the thief a hopeful grin, which was soon returned.

The four of them arrived at the oversight center shortly afterwards, and Bumblebee opened the door with her keycard. All this time, there was no further sign of Brother Blood. The rogue hoped that the headmaster's attention was being drawn elsewhere.

"Here we are, Sparky. Once this gets taken out, all the security systems will go offline long enough for the others to be able to hit the main reactor. Then..."

"It's all downhill from there," Swindle finished. "We've gotta get people evacuated, though. I'm thinkin' that once the Teach's influence is broken, a lot of these guys'll go their own way an' not bother anyone anymore."

"Let's hope so. Thanks for the help, y'all."

"No problem, Cy. See you on the outside, eh?"

"Not if I see you first!"

Swindle turned to the first friend he made in the academy and said, "Be careful in there, Bee. Teach ain't around now, but that don't mean he won't make a guest appearance."

"You got it, S." She grinned as she leaned in closer to whisper, "Lemme know how things work out between the two of you."

The thief rolled his eyes, "Will you get going already?"

With that, both Bumblebee and Cyborg stepped into the station and closed the door behind him. The remaining three made haste for the dormitory hall to get as many of their classmates into the escape pods as possible. Midway through this, however, Jinx felt something sieze her heart. She dropped to her knees as she clutched at her chest just as Swindle rounded the corner towards her.

"Jinx! Are you all right? What is it?"

"He's... He's there... I can feel it. The... headmaster... I think he's trying to call us..."

"Dammit... Jinx, get to a pod an' wait for me, okay?"

"But...!"

The rogue put his hands on her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes, "I've lost you once, damn near twice. I won't let it happen a third time. Get to a pod. I'll be back, I swear it."

Before Jinx could say another word, Swindle raced back to the lower levels. His parting words unlocked another memory. She had been taken away by someone. No, two people. Slade. Terra. Their names are finally clear to her now. The one she'd seen in her dreams so many times was there, too. She remembered being in great pain, as if her arms and legs were being pulled from their sockets. Then, the boy fought them back long enough to free her. His name was still fuzzy in her head. All she knew was that it began with an "S."

Sweep...

Swap...

Swindle... Dammit, Jinx, you're not even trying now!

Wait a sec... It starts with "Swi," doesn't it? Swi- Swi-

Swipe?

A floodgate opened in her head at that moment. Everything came back to her almost instantly. Sounds, sights, words, emotions...

Love.

Tears suddenly streamed from her eyes as renewed warmth spread through her. He had been with her all this time, and now he was fighting to bring her back home. She couldn't allow him to fight alone this time, not while she could still draw breath to cast her spells.

The door leading back to the lower levels was thrown from its tracks by pink energy blasts, and a desperate hex-caster dashed through the smoking wreck.

The rogue made it back to the oversight center just in time to see Cyborg getting trounced by Brother Blood. It seemed like the headmaster could read every punch that Cyborg threw before it was even thrown. No matter what the Titan did, Blood was able to dodge with next to no effort. Where Bee had gone to was anybody's guess.

Swindle drew his daggers. It was time to put the headmaster's precognitive powers to the test. And, speaking of him...

"DID NO ONE COME TO THIS ACADEMY TO LEARN?!"

Bumblebee's voice came through the hallway quite clearly.

"Oh, I'll show you what I learned, all right!"

Swindle chose that moment to throw the door open and make his entrance, still under the guise of a loyal student. He jumped to the platform where the other combatants were facing off and took the side of Brother Blood.

"Bumblebee, ya lousy traitor!" he spat. "I ain't lettin' ya tear this place down after I went to all the trouble of helpin' build it!"

The brief wink that followed let the Titans in on the ruse.

"Then you'd better come here and try to stop me!" she shot back before firing her electrical blasters at him.

The thief dove and rolled to one side in order to avoid the attack, then suddenly lunged forward in a full body tackle. Bumblebee rolled enough with the hit to keep the wind from being knocked out of her and turned it into a flip kick-throw, sending Swindle high into the air and landing roughly on his back.

Cyborg tried another haymaker on Brother Blood, but this proved futile against someone who had studied every detail in his schematics. Another blast of psychic energy threw him into the wall farthest from the others, and forced him to his knees. While the headmaster's attention was diverted, Bumblebee and Swindle nodded to each other. It was time to end this.

"HEADMASTER BLOOD!"

All fighting ceased at the shout, and all eyes turned to see Jinx standing at the open doorway. She was panting fiercely and her eyes were still glowing bright pink from the exertion. After a few seconds had passed, she collected herself enough to focus her attention on the man she called out.

"Why.. Why did you take me against my will?"

The headmaster visibly faltered, likely surprised to find that his mental domination had been broken.

"I beg your pardon? You.. came to the academy.. of your accord, like everyone else!"

The hexer's hands began to glow, "Liar. I remember what happened now. It's been your fault all this time. It's your fault that I got my heart broken. It's your fault that I've been miserable for the past three weeks! It's your fault that I lost him!"

Swindle's eyes opened wide as he listened, "Jinxie...?"

"The control panel, S! While he's distracted!" Bumblebee hissed from behind him. The rogue paid no attention.

Brother Blood advanced towards Jinx and began to focus his mental power upon her again, "My dear Jinx, I don't know what you're talking about... and neither do you."

The sorceress grimaced as she fought against Blood's will. The magic that flowed from her hands soon faded away, as did the light in her eyes.

"N-No.. I do know.." she muttered through tightly clenched teeth. "And.. you're not gonna do it... again!"

Swindle clenched his fists and teeth before charging Brother Blood, intending to deliver a hard knee strike into the headmaster's back. Cyborg, having regained his bearings, had a similar idea in mind and was running in for a left hook while he had the advantage. The collision sent them tumbling into Brother Blood, knocking him flat on his stomach and breaking his concentration. The psion glared up at Swindle and noticed Bumblebee already at work to disable the security system.

"You damned fool! Now look at what you've done! Stop her before she shuts down the entire base!"

"Yeah, sure."

Mentally crossing his fingers, Swindle got to his feet and hurled three of his knives straight at Bumblebee before Cyborg could stop him. As he had hoped, a quiet chanting started behind him.

All three weapons curved in mid-air just before they struck their target, and pierced the control panel's override circuits instead. With those severed, the base's security systems would no longer respond to any lockdown requests. The main generators were now vulnerable.

Swindle clucked his tongue once, "Guess luck wasn't with me on that one..."

The Titans apparently saw that the advantage was theirs, as the floor beneath them soon began to shudder and ceiling panels crashed down around them. Still playing the part of a Hive student, Swindle dashed towards Jinx and grabbed her wrists. The hexer knew she was in no danger and played along, feigning resistance against the thief's hold.

"I'll get this little troublemaker to an escape pod so you can discipline her later, Teach. Right now, we gotta get outta here."

Brother Blood gritted his teeth and snarled, "That's two schools you owe me, Cyborg..."

The headmaster stormed out of the control room, on his way to his personal escape vessel in his office. Both Swindle and Jinx smiled and waved a farewell to Cyborg and Bumblebee before the rogue ran off to find a pod of their own. Jinx's normal grip around Swindle's middle tightened into a loving squeeze.

"I thought I'd never see you again..."

"The feeling's mutual. We'll talk later, Jinxie. Let's get outta this dump first."

"What about Brother Blood?"

"Oh, he's gonna find a going-away present pretty soon..."

Meanwhile, Brother Blood settled into the seat of his podship and started flipping switches to power it up. To his dismay, nothing seemed to respond at first. The engines would sputter briefly, only to die out again. Frustrated, Blood pressed every button and pushed every lever on the console. A panel opened when he hit a large red button in the middle, revealing a note. The note had only one word written on it, punctuated by a small skull-and-crossbones drawing, "SUCKER!"

The headmaster's angry howl was soon drowned out by the explosions of the underwater base.

Swipe and Jinx were already a long way from the base when it blew. They were cramped inside the only remaining escape pod on their floor. Of course, neither seemed to mind the close quarters now, and it gave them a chance to talk for a while.

"I can't believe I almost forgot about you, Swipe..."

"It's okay, Jinxie. I'm just glad you got your head back in order."

Jinx leaned forward to hug him around his neck and watched the undersea base collapse in on itself.

"Do you think it's over?"

"If Teach found that little surprise, it should be smooth sailing from here on... Huh?"

It was then that both of them felt something, a flicker of a shadow in the backs of their minds. Then, their ship suddenly pitched forward as a chunk of metal smashed into it. The shadow became worse when the rogue tried to regain control. His vision was becoming blurred, but he didn't feel fatigued. Something was trying to get into his mind again, and the shriek behind him let him know that Jinx was feeling the same thing. Gritting his teeth, Swipe pulled back on the control yolk as hard as he could.

"Hang on, Jinx! I can't see where we're goin' anymore, an' we might hit land any-- !"

As he said those words, everything stopped with a great jolt. They had hit the base of a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, just south of Jump City's only beach. With the ship shorting out and sinking fast, Swipe took hold of Jinx's unconscious form and kicked the canopy open. A rush of icy water surrounded him, prompting him to swim in the direction that he felt was up.

The cold water soon broke away to cold air as Swipe continued to swim. He still couldn't see at all, and now a voice added to his troubles.

"Return to me, my students... Return to me..."

It was Brother Blood!

"How- How can you still be alive? How did you make it outta there?"

"Return... Return to me..."

"NEVER!"

The thief struggled onward with one arm. He had his other arm around Jinx's middle so he could keep her head above water as much as he could, but he could feel his strength giving out from the cold. Even worse, he could still feel her body slipping away with every stroke.

'Can't feel my legs anymore... Dammit, where's the damn cliff? Am I swimming the right way?'

He stopped a moment to heft Jinx's limp body higher up out of the water.

'Hang on, Jinxie... I just gotcha back an' there's no way I'm letting you go this time. Even if I go down with you.'

End of Chapter 15

In Chapter 16 - Swipe (no longer known as Swindle) realizes that he and Jinx are not out of danger yet with Brother Blood still out there somewhere. The time for subtlety and deception is over. This has to end. Now.

Author's post-notes: Dairokkan, "Eat the Rich" probably would make a good BG song for the fight. Aerosmith doesn't get played much on my radio stations, and even then it's "Walk This Way" etc, so I'm not very familiar with the song. But I'm pretty sure that it'll fit right in with Swipe/Swindle's musical tastes. To everyone else, I appreciate your patience with me and I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. :)