Garfield: Got any 2's?
Gwen: Goldfish.
Miles: *grumbles and webs a 2 of hearts onto the ceiling table*
Jinx: What are you three doing up there?
Garfield: Playing cards. Wanna join?
Jinx: Gee…That would be neat if I could stand upside down the ceiling!
Gwen: Oh yeah…I thought everyone could do that. Silly me.
Miles: *snickers*
Garfield: Not nice Gwen.
Jinx: *Narrows eyes* Say that to my face.
Gwen: Sure. Just come up here and I'd be glad to.
Jinx: *Screams in Magic*
Garfield: Welp, she's wound up now…We better start the show.
A Symbiotic Bond: A Venomous Titan Reborn
Chapter Twenty
Gotham City – Wayne Residence
Teen Titans
After landing the Blackbird in the courtyard of the Wayne mansion, the Teen Titans stepped out of the jet, with a sleeping Jubilee sleeping on Cyborg's back, nestling her face into his neck, causing him to blush slightly at the feeling.
"She sure got attached to Friend Cyborg, Boyfriend Robin," Starfire noted to her leader with a happy smile on her face. "
Robin smirked and added on "I think Cyborg is attached to her too…I can't wait to tease him later."
"I heard that," Cyborg said with an amused tone. "We're just friends."
"Fast friends. She's already sleeping on you," Robin noted. "It took me getting injured to let me sleep on you."
"I mean a cute girl versus an ugly bird…Kinda answers itself," Cyborg joked which caused Robin to hit him in the side but with a grin on his face.
Robin knocked on the door twice and seconds later, Alfred answered the door with a kind smile on his face. "Ah, Master Richard. Welcome back to Wayne manor. I see that you have brought Lady Kori and Master Victor as well."
Robin smiled and replied "Yeah. We need to talk to Bruce, is he here?"
"He is currently in his office. Would you like me to lead you to it?" Alfred questioned as he held the door for the teens to enter before shutting the door behind them.
"No thanks Alfred," Robin replied. "Why don't you go ahead and get some rest Alfred. You look haggard."
"I shall be fine Master Richard. These old bones aren't so worn down yet," Alfred said with a kind smile. Robin smiled back and while the other titans weren't looking, he gave Alfred a quick but loving hug, which the older man returned.
But it was then Robin felt a something being tucked underneath the back of his belt. "I missed you too, Master Richard," Alfred said kindly as Robin quickly pulled away, a smile on his face.
"Thanks," Robin replied.
"Mhmm," Jubilee mumbled sleepily before she gripped Cyborg's neck slightly, which caused the titan to blush once more and muttered "We here?"
"We here," Cyborg replied.
Jubilee looked around and muttered "When did we get here?"
"Just a few minutes ago. I figured I'd carry you in so you wouldn't miss anything," Cyborg said.
"Thanks," Jubilee said as she leapt down from his back and yawned. Just as she did, the wall at the end of the hallway opened up to reveal a female figure wearing black skintight suit with gray on the sides of the torso area, the sides of the legs and sides of her gray boots.
She also had long black hair that hid beneath her mask gray mask with long black cat ears that took up the sides of the mask and red eye lenses, a silver belt that had a red "X" logo on it around her waist and a black bomber jacket that also bore a red "X" on the side of the jacket.
And in her mouth was a cigar.
"Lady Kinney, do put that out," Alfred said with a frown as the female walked towards the group.
"Sorry bub," The female said with a grin on her face. "Needed this after that long mission and really couldn't wait."
"Laura," Jubilee said with excitement as the female paused in front of the group.
"I'm X-23, leader of the B-Squad of X-Force and your welcoming party," Laura replied with a neutral tone. "Jump City and Japan are under the jurisdiction of the Teen Titans and X-Men respectively, X-Force is Gotham's jurisdiction. What are you doing here?"
"We need to talk to Batman about somethings," Robin responded, his voice also neutral. "I take it he's unavailable if you're the welcome wagon and not him?"
"You'd be correct. He's currently at his base in Arkham Asylum working on the case about the traitor and her friend who were recently sent there and he doesn't wish to be disturbed," the female replied.
"I see…" Robin said softly. "How long as X-Force been in Gotham city?"
"We've been here for a year now coming next week," X-23 explained. "I just recently joined the team six months ago."
"You said you were the leader of the B-squad?" Starfire asked. "How many squads are there if you don't mind me asking?"
"There are two of them. The A-Squad and my team," X-23 answered with a nod to Starfire's direction.
"Thank you," Starfire said.
"You're welcome," X-23 replied. "Any other questions?"
"I have one. The Moon sure is beautiful tonight, isn't it?" Jubilee suddenly asked.
"It's cloudy at the moment but give it time, I'm sure it'll clear up," X-23 said. "Any more questions?"
"None at all," Jubilee asked. "Let's get out of here guys."
"Very well. Titans, move out!" Robin said before they turned around and left, each saying goodbye to Alfred as they left.
The moment they walked out of the mansion and back into the jet, Jubilee said "We should stay clear of Laura while she is in the middle of her operation."
"Operation?" Cyborg questioned.
"Yeah. Anytime we're on an undercover mission, there is a phrase we have," Jubilee explained.
"The moon is beautiful tonight," Cyborg recounted as he leaned against the console of the Blackbird.
Jubilee nodded with a grin on her face. "Exactly my beautiful friend. Depending on their reply, we know. She said that things are cloudy, which means she's undercover but for what reason, I don't know…"
"She is still part of the X-men?" Starfire asked.
"She is but she is a part of X-Factor, a black-ops type team of ours that handles espionage among other things," Jubilee explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if she came up with the name "X-Force" since that is a defunct team of ours as well."
"Interesting…" Cyborg said before he turned to Robin, who was looking at the paper Alfred had tucked away in his belt and he narrowed his eyes. "What's up Robin?" Cyborg asked.
"Alfred tucked this note away…It seems things are more dire than they seem," Robin said before he turned the picture to reveal an image.
The image was of Jinx, wearing the same uniform as X-23 and she was in the middle of battling Batman
"What the hell, that's Jinx!" Cyborg exclaimed.
"He did but I don't know how this ties into any…Wait," Robin looked at the corner of the screen and saw the date. "Wait…This happened a year and a half ago. Around the time X-23 said X-Force was created, right?"
"Yeah…Wait a minute…" Cyborg took the picture and narrowed his eyes before he gasped. "There is something in Jinx's hands and it looks green…Wait…Starfire, what colors are the Infinity Stones?"
"My memory is a bit hazy but the Power Stone is purple. The Mind Stone is blue. The Time Stone is green, the Soul Stone is Orange and the Reality Stone is Red," Starfire recited with a strained tone.
"I think she has an Infinity Stone…" Cyborg muttered, shocking the group. "The Time Stone to be specific…Its very faint but I can see the green glow and I see little wisps of this green energy around Batman…"
"This isn't looking good, Jinx has an Infinity Stone and the last person she fought was Batman," Jubilee mumbled.
"Wait, X-23 mentioned that a traitor was caught and sent to Arkham and Batman is there! Seeing as Jinx is wearing what I am assuming, the X-Force uniform, she could be that traitor!" Cyborg exclaimed.
"Well, let's go to Arkham at once and find out. The sooner we get to Jinx, the quicker we can hide it from Loki…" Robin said gravely.
"This'll be fun," Jubilee said with a groan. "Hi-ho, hi-ho, its off to Arkham we go…"
Gotham City – Arkham Asylum
Garfield Mark Logan
"I can't believe I'm in Arkham…How did this happen to me?" Garfield asked as he sat down on the bunk bed, a stunned tone in his voice.
It seemed like two hours ago he was in China, fighting with his friends and now he was in one of the worst places in the entire country with the infamous Harley Quinn, who sat beside him with a goofy grin on her face.
"You look down. What's the matta?" Harley asked him. "Oh! Is it because ya in a cell with me? Don't sweat it cutie patootie, I don't bite much. Hell, I'd rather ya bite me like Ivy does during our sexy times."
Garfield stared at her for a moment and his eyes arched up as he began to laugh slightly. "I'm just trying to figure out how the hell I wound up here."
"Oh yeah, you're a big shot hero from Champion City. Everyone is talkin' 'bout ya," Harley replied. "A lot of 'em are sizing ya up for a fight. It's pretty funny to me that they already startin'." Harley then pointed out the cell and said "Take a look."
Garfield stood up and walked to the bars of his cell and noticed that in all the other cells were located but he could see the various criminals, locked in their own cells, eyeing his cell. "That's bullshit," Garfield muttered with a scowl, his eyes narrowed as he growled "Can I get a fucking break?"
"Don't look so down with that oddly expressive mask. They may be after your pink haired friend instead," Harley added.
"After Jinx? But why?" Garfield asked her.
"She did help put a lot of folks in here, myself included," Harley said cheerfully, which shocked Garfield.
"She helped put you in here?" He asked her.
Harley nodded and said "She was X-Force. Third in Command in fact behind the claw girl."
Garfield looked over at the area that Jinx was sleeping in and said "She was X-Force…What changed that do you know?"
"No idea but there are rumors that she killed the previous first in command and wound up kicked out of the group and made a highly wanted woman because of it," Harley explained. "The Big Bats himself said that she's wanted for one hundred million dollars."
"Wow…She is really wanted then," Sym said as Garfield's eyes bugged out from his head. "You sure know how to pick them Garfield. The headstrong Rocket, the wanted Jinx and if memories serve correct, the mysterious Raven. I wonder how we'll get out of this one unscathed…"
"O-One hundred million?! Holy shit!" Garfield exclaimed. "Boy…If I was a less than a hero, I would have turned her in on a dime for that much. Ah well, it can't be helped. If I need to fight, I will and I'm sure she will…At least while we're still here…"
"Already plannin' a break out? Fat chance on that," Harley said sourly. "Bats and his dear X-Force has rigged this place as unbreakout-able. Many have tried. Many have failed and with these little do-hickies-" Harley pointed to the collar around her neck. "-that he got from Amanda Waller, we risk certain death by explosion if we even try."
"That doesn't sound like Batman…" Garfield noted. While he never worked with the legendary caped crusader, Robin had mentioned him a few times during a bonding session and stressed out that while he was strict on crime, he didn't condone certain things and rigging a collar to blow up went against his code.
"That's what I thought too until he and his X-Force strapped this around mah neck," Harley grumbled.
"Great…" Garfield said. "What else do these collars do?"
"Well they used to just blow up but now with all these super powered folk, they nullify powers too," Harley explained. "While I have no problem with that, some of the other people in here are pretty miffed."
"Nullify powers…" Garfield muttered.
'Hey Sym…Are our powers nullified?' Garfield asked his partner.
"They are significantly weakened but not fully gone. Give me some time and I will be able to break this collar without killing us," Sym replied.
'Thanks Sym,' Garfield thought before he looked to the clown queen and said "I appreciate you telling me this but why tell me all of this? You don't owe me anything and vice versa."
Harley let a small grin appear on her face as she said "Let's just say, being a villain isn't as appealing as it once was."
Garfield had a feeling there was more to the story than this but before he could ask, Jinx began to stir. "Hmm…W-Where am I?" Jinx mumbled as she leaned up off the bed and saw both Garfield and Harley before she looked down at the collars and then out to the cell and said "We're in Arkham…"
"Hello to you too beautiful!" Harley said with a grin on her face.
"Oh no….ohnononononononono," Jinx said as she began to hyperventilate.
Both Harley and Garfield nodded, which caused an anguished look to appear on Jinx's face. "W-We can't be here…" Jinx whispered in terror.
Garfield and Harley glanced at each other before looking at Jinx and in unison, the pair asked "Because of your time in X-Force?"
"H-How did…Harley told you I bet," Jinx said.
Garfield nodded. "It would have been a good idea to tell me you were a previous X-Force member…Might have explained why they needed to capture you for "murder" as they accused you of."
"Capture me? You think putting me in Arkham is capture? The place where I locked up many of their dangerous criminals with my former team? No…This is the place where I'm going to die…"
And it was then their cell doors opened with a voice blaring into the intercom "Free Roam time has now been reached."
Dozens of cell doors could be heart slamming open as the dark and angry voices began to buzz, causing Harley and Garfield to look at each other as their cell opened as well.
Behind them, Jinx lowered her head and muttered "Fuck my life."
Robin: Well, that's amazing. We already got a lead on the next Infinity Stone.
Cyborg: Who knew Jinx would have it…But what happens now?
Jubilee: Only one way to find out!
Starfire: Goodbye friends!