It had been just like every other fight with the Hive Five gang.
The titans had all been more or less relaxing (if you could count Cyborg and Beast Boy screaming at each other over a video game as "relaxing") when the alarm had sounded. This was normal. The teens were still just that: teens. They rarely ever trained on a strict schedule. Aside from Robin's mandatory sparring sessions, they rarely trained at all, particularly Beast Boy.
Regardless, when the alarm sounded each titan stopped what they were doing and raced to the titan mainframe to see what the trouble was. Apparently, the Hive Five were up to their usual antics. Today, their unfortunate target was the street fair being held across town. With Robin's usual cry of "Titans, go!" the misfit gang of super heroes set off to stop the troublemakers.
…And at first, it had been no different from the numerous other scuffles the titans had gotten into with this particular group of ne'er-do-wells.
The titans arrived with a rather impressive, heroic entrance beginning with Raven scaring the pants off of Billy Numerous and ending with Starfire sending Mammoth clear through the wall of the fun house.
Jinx, Gizmo, Seemore and Kyd Wykkyd stared down the titans with angry scowls as their teammates composed themselves. Jinx had cocked her hip and tossed her head, "The Teen Titans. What a surprise."
Robin replied with a sarcastic "Sorry to spoil your fun, but playtime's over!" as he dropped into a fighting stance.
The usual banter. And then began the usual fighting.
Both sides charged at one another, and the usual pairs broke off into their own separate fights. Jinx and Raven, Starfire and Seemore, Cyborg and Gizmo. Robin squared off against both Mammoth and Kyd Wykkyd; it would have been unfair odds for anyone but Robin. That left Beast Boy to deal with Billy Numerous, and he did fairly well given the fact that it quickly went from one on one, to three on one, to ten on one and so on. But hey, being a Tyrannosaurus Rex, dealing with a few dozen hillbillies wasn't all too difficult.
And everything proceeded as usual… until Jinx found herself in need of a new opponent.
Maybe Raven was having a bad day (Beast Boy would protest that every day was a bad day for Raven but still), or maybe Jinx just got incredibly lucky. Either way, the telepath took a bad hit, and when she fell she didn't get up.
But Jinx wasn't satisfied. She looked around to see which of her teammates needed help and she saw Seemore struggling to hold back a barrage of starbolts. Following the trail of glowing green energy, her eyes narrowed at the form of the (beautiful) Tamaranean princess. A quick survey of the fairground showed a plethora of possible distractions: maybe she could set the ferris wheel on fire, or bust the pipes in that funneled the water in the log flume... but then the young sorceress realized just how many balloons were bobbing about, attached to stalls and even the rides themselves. With a slight smile, she snapped her fingers and caused the hundreds of balloon strings in the area to snap, setting their airy burdens free up into the sky. Suddenly the air around the young titan was filled with green, blue, red, and pink balloons, effectively obscuring the crime-fighter's vision.
Seemore, unfortunately for Starfire, was not distracted and, with the help of his thermal vision, was able to locate the alien quickly and shoot her out of the sky. Jinx went in for the kill, fully expecting to thrash the alien girl soundly with what she thought were her vastly superior hand-to-hand combat skills.
So when she found herself sliding rapidly across the ground in the opposite direction, heat rose rapidly in her already-pink cheeks. Sitting up with a huff, she looked over her shoulder at the titan who stood in a confident battle stance, her fists alight with Starbolt energy. There was no delight or amusement in having temporarily defeated Jinx, only steady determination.
The young sorceress flipped backup and regarded her enemy for a moment before grinning. Lifting up her hand in a universal "Bring it on!" gesture, she purred "What, is that it?"
Starfire frowned, but didn't bother responding with words. Instead, she let out a battle cry as she charged forward and Jinx dropped into a defensive stance. When Starfire came within striking distance she swung a glowing fist; Jinx ducked under it and retaliated by sweeping the titan's legs out from under her, hoping to send her crashing to the ground. But we all know Starfire can fly, so instead of falling she merely hung suspended in the air.
Jinx paused for a moment before she stood back up, looking rather miffed. She crossed her arms and frowned. "You couldn't have just went with it? It's hardly fair that I had to kiss the pavement and you just get to defy gravity. Honestly!" Starfire remained silent, staring at her with a curious expression. Jinx stared right back, and the bubbly titan slowly began to blush. As she righted herself she looked away, rubbing at her arm in a state of embarrassment.
"Well, it is instinct. I am not accustomed to impaling myself on the earth because I am conscious of appearing humble…" Jinx cocked a brow and tried not to smile. She wasn't being serious, not completely, but it was cute that Starfire wasn't catching on to her tease at all.
Cute? Jinx regarded the flustered alien princess again, and tilted her head subconsciously. Yes. Cute. There was no denying the titan before her was beautiful, even the most narcissistic of villains would admit to that, but the thought that she was 'cute' had never once crossed Jinx's mind. Nor had the thought to tease her, either. She'd had no idea where that came from, but seeing a blushing Starfire was definitely worth it.
The moment was ruined however, when Mammoth came crashing down in between them. His great mass left cracks in the pavement (which will become important soon) and he moaned in pain as he rolled back onto his knees. He shook his head before glancing up; the sun was blocked out by the rapidly descending shadow of Robin. With a roar, Mammoth snatched the young boy out of the air and brought him smack down into the street, worsening the cracks that were already in the road.
"Hah! How's that feel, Wonder Boy?"
Starfire gasped, staring down at Robin's injured form, before her eyes lit up with green rage and Mammoth was hit with the full force of her eye beams. Jinx instinctively bent over backwards as his great girth flew past her head, somersaulting away from the two titans. When she straightened back up, all thoughts of Starfire fled her mind as she surveyed the state of the battle.
A pile of Billy Numerous' lay defeated at the feet of a satisfied-looking T-Rex, and the echo of Cyborg's sonic cannon proved to be slowly overpowering Seemore's laser and she noted with a frown that Gizmo had been de-tech'ed. He now sat at Cyborg's feet with his arms and legs crossed. Mammoth was obviously having trouble, and she felt her hair and spirits fall when she saw that Raven was back on her feet, standing before a fallen Kyd Wykkyd.
Glaring back before her, she saw Starfire helping Robin to his feet, her feet planted firmly on the cracked pavement. Cracked… pink hair perked back up and a vicious smile lit up Jinx's face as she remembered her very first altercation with the Titans. Bracing herself for her attack, she called out to Robin, "Hey, Bird Boy! I believe you're familiar with the city sewers, right?" The white mask stared her down as her smirk grew. "I think it's time for a little reunion!" The mask widened in surprise as Jinx swung her arms forward, waves of pink energy following. She thought she saw the boy wonder's hand reach for his belt, but she couldn't have been sure, because suddenly there was nothing for her to stand on.
Shit. She hadn't put enough distance between herself and the two titans; the cracks in the pavement had extended far enough towards her so that when she hit the damaged street with her energy waves, her own standing ground had begun to crumble.
Her mind was screaming at her to move, to get away, but her body was frozen as the pavement breaking off in great chunks and falling down into the sewage current below. She fell down into the darkness and was assaulted by a wave of terror; the sounds of rushing water and waste grew louder with each passing second, and the smell grew worse with each passing second...
…And as she wondered how she had time to complain about the smell, she realized she'd stopped falling. Her momentum had been arrested, and the concrete continued to fall, Jinx staying suspended in the air. As she wondered how that was possible, she became aware of an alien warmth surrounding her. When she opened her eyes she realized that the phrase 'alien warmth,' was quite literal.
Starfire had caught her. Starfire had saved her. Jinx stared into those bright, concerned green eyes completely dumbfounded. Why had the titan saved her? Hadn't Robin fallen too?
A quick glance upward showed that Robin had indeed been reaching for his belt before the fall; he'd gotten one of his weird bird-boomerang things and used it to catch at the edge of the street. He hung in the air, swaying gently back and forth as the draft in the tunnel pushed against the cord that held him up. He was glaring at Jinx. A quick glance downward told her why.
Starfire was holding her bridal style, one arm wrapped around her waist and the other was dangerously close to-
And she was blushing again.
"Jinx, you are unharmed?" Jinx gave only a shy nod, and Starfire smiled brightly. "Wonderful! It seems the return fire has come upon your plan, but I am glad to hear you are unharmed. Robin is fine as well!"
Starfire began to float upwards, and Jinx instinctively wrapped her arms around Starfire's neck, not used to such motion. She tried to ignore the warmth in her cheeks, rapidly spreading to her ears. They floated past Robin, who'd begun to pull himself up.
They returned to the surface to a fight clearly finished; both sides just wanted their teammates to come out alright. Both the titans and the Hive Five seemed surprised to see Jinx held safely in Starfire's arms, Beast Boy in fact was standing slack-jawed, eyes as wide as saucers. Starfire gently set Jinx on her feet then immediately turned to help Cyborg pull Robin up. Jinx glanced at her from the corner of her eye, brushing at the hair that had come undone and fallen down over her face, pushing it back in place. Her teammates crowded around her, Gizmo glaring up at the sorceress with the an odd combination of irritation and concern.
"That was a pretty stupid move! You coulda gotten hurt!"
Once Robin was safely back solid ground he was crushed in an alien bear hug. "Oh, I am glad to see you are unharmed!" This was a pretty good end to the conflict in her eyes; the fight was over and no one had gotten seriously hurt. Well... except the street, but streets didn't have feelings, so it was alright!
Robin smiled at her, once she'd let go and he'd regained control of his respiration. "I'm fine Star, thanks. There was no way that trick was gonna work on me again; I was ready for her this time! Gotta admit, it's kinda nice knowing she got a taste of her own medicine; I guess karma is real, after all."
Starfire frowned. She was happy that her friend was unscathed, ecstatic really, but harm should never be wished on another person. Even one's enemies.
"Hey, Starfire..." Starfire turned towards the sound and saw Jinx looking at her shyly, hair slightly mussed... and there was soot dusted lightly across the other girl's cheek. The pink sorceress looked a bit shaken, as was to be expected. She had just taken an unexpected, unwelcome free-fall, after all. The sorceress stepped forward lightly, her weight held on one foot.
"Yes, Jinx?"
Pink eyes (beautiful eyes) met hers for a moment, unsure, but the shyness was only there for a moment before her gaze became confident again. She placed a hand on the other girl's shoulder and leaned in...
A quick kiss from pink lips was placed upon a tan cheek.
Starfire's mouth fell open in surprise as Jinx stepped away, eyes alight with a flirtatious yet genuinely thankful glow. "Thanks for saving me."
The rest of the titans were in equal shock, as were the other members of the Hive Five gang. There wasn't a single jaw that hadn't dropped to the floor (except Jinx's, of course). There was complete and utter silence for a moment; Starfire blinked once, unsure of what to do. Jinx simply smiled at her, a blush still evident in her cheeks, though her ears had cooled down some. The sound of her heels clacking against the pavement as she stepped away broke the silence, and the rest of the Hive Five started at the sound; they cast curious looks at Starfire before following after Jinx, who didn't look back.
The titans remained stock-still for a moment more; Cyborg was the first to move. He scratched at the top of his head (the metal half) and watched the Hive Five walk away... not quite sure if he should try and stop them. Considering they'd already been beaten, and they weren't walking away with any stolen goods, he decided against it and turned to look at Starfire.
The first words out of his mouth, while spoken without forethought, were oddly enough a fairly accurate description of their current situation.
"Well, that was... unexpected."