"The First Job" (or) "Cables and Slates"
The native birds of Jump City chirped happily as they perched atop telephone poles and electric wires. The sound was a melody of music without a base, yet it distilled into nothing as the winged creatures took flight. Moments later, the musical ballad they had played was replaced with the splitting air of screams and destruction.
The front window of a pawn shop smashed inward with a thousand points of glass, the owner and customers covering their heads and lowering themselves to the ground as the pounding footsteps from the outside cracked shards of glass under heavy feet. There were sharp cracks as the intruder popped knuckles on a gorilla fist. An accomplished smirk across a stainless face and gray orbs looking over the various goods to be stolen.
"Every thing that shines ist nov property of Steel Skin!" He called out, his body of metal gleaming. The metal teen (only a year or two till 20), covered from bald head to booted shoes with steel metal, walked along the cases, taking what he wanted and anything that caught his eye. He shoved what he could into the pockets of his tan fishing vest and ragged pants.
"That doesn't belong to you" Someone called from the broken window. The metal man turned to see a dark haired youth in the broken window, cape flapping behind him, eyes hidden behind a white mask. The rest of the titans stood ready next to or behind Robin. The metal man took one look at the five super heroes before laughing.
"Vat vas it you planned on doing to stop me?" He dropped his current hand full of swag and cracked his hands again. "Steel Skin's about to teech you brats a lessin in respect." With that he charged, metal fist out.
On the roof of a bus across the street from the fight, the Hive members sat watching as the walking steel mill called Steel Skin bashed holes in everything that connected with his fists.
"Why do we have to waste our time with a chrome dome like him?" Asked an irritated Gizmo.
"We have to persuade him to join the Hive." Answered Jinx. She tilted her head and mockingly smirked at Gizmo. "Unless that's too much of a challenge for you."
A vein throbbed on Gizmo's forehead, but his mouth stayed shut. The four of them dropped off the bus, walking calmly towards the continuing destruction of the block.
Cyborg hit the lamp post head first, denting it into a near 90 degree angle. He was able to see strait in time to see the flying green dinosaur hurtling towards him. With a yelp of surprise, Cyborg was plowed over by Beast Boy, snapping the already damaged pole in half. Raven immediately picked it up, encasing it in black energy and swinging like a club at their metal skinned foe. Steel Skin took the blow to the side, wrapping his arms around the metal after it had collided with him. With a grunt of effort, he tore the pole from Raven's telekinetic grasp and turned around with it, smacking a flying Starfire into a brick wall.
Jinx walked lightly around the pile of rubble that the alien had been buried in, the rest of her team stretched out to her side. Steel Skin noticed them right after he had finished throwing Robin into Raven by his cape, knocking both to the ground.
"More fools asking for a lessin from Steel Skin ah? Come and get it." Steel Skin ran a pink tongue over metal lips, his face the picture of enjoyment.
"We're not here to fight you. We're here to aid you." Jinx said, reaching to her belt and pulling out a yellow Hive communicator. "We were sent from a place that believes that you deserve more."
Steel Skin straitened a little, his posture no longer than of an angry rhino about to flatten a tree. "Vat are you talking about?" he asked.
"The Hive academy invites you to join. They can make you stronger, help you get what you want…what you deserve." The last words were stressed adding emphasis and poking at his sense of desire. This was why Jinx always did the talking. Add her persuasive skills in with her instilled luck and the Hive rarely got refusals.
Steel Skin looked down at himself, the various dents and scratches on his metal frame. "Steel Skin is stronger than all... and you say theese people can do better?"
"Can and will."
Steel Skin's gray eyes slanted upward for a moment, his hand on his chin. "You from zis skool place ah. Let's see if you've got the goods to give Steel Skin a fight. Then ve see about joining." He got into what could have been a boxing stance, his fit up and his feet spread. It was that moment that Robin and Cyborg had gotten behind him. Robin flipped him over his shoulder and Cyborg smashed his fist into Steel Skin's plating. The attack sent him back through the broken window of the shop and through an unbroken display case.
The Titans reassembled, now trying to divide their attention between the Hive members and Steel Skin. Beast Boys eyes watched the Hive, and then he noticed the new guy on their team.
"Dudes, when did they get a new guy?" He asked. Cyborg and Robin turned to look at Coil, who was standing strait with both hands at his side and his face a slate of apathy.
"Here's your first taste newb." Gizmo snickered. Coil didn't even glance at him, but kept his gold eyes fixed on the titans. Jinx caught his posture and expression out of the corner of her eye, keeping everything at hand should anything unexpectedly come up.
"Attack pattern Beta!" She commanded, her team flanking her and moving out.
"Titans, go!" Robin commanded, the teen superheroes splitting into two groups: one attacking Steel Skin while he was down and one staying to deal with the Hive students.
Mammoth was the first to move, running headlong at the titans. Cyborg's sonic cannon came out shooting a blue stream at the charging beast. Mammoth jumped, dodging the beam and soaring into the air. As eyes turned on him, Gizmo was moving forward via jet pack, cannons ready. As Mammoth reached his apex, Gizmo fired, spraying the titan line with yellow blasts. Beast boy morphed into a rodent to dodge, Robin whipped out his staff and deflected some, but Cyborg to one to the chest and got thrown back. Mammoth came down, ramming both fists into the ground and sending a shockwave across the street. With the titans disoriented, and the females of the group having moved in on Steel Skin before the attack, Jinx and Coil ran in. Jinx fired a pink blast at the cracked ground, and the water pipes rupture, exploding and sending the gravel into the air in a gushing fountain.
Coil jumped it, getting to the top of the water just as Robin was getting knocked off it. Coil's kick caught Robin in the gut, and he dropped down to slam the green changeling through the water. The two female titans could not hold Steel Skin off, and they were being pressed back to the flank of the men.
Cyborg switched to sonic cannon and fired at the Hive, but his aim and luck was not good. Gizmo moved too fast with his jet pack, Mammoth tore up parts of the street as shields for any of the blue waves, Coil dodged with an agility just a level under Robin's, and Jinx was playing the part of a gymnast as she flipped and cart wheeled out of the way of every attack. Robin tossed a fist of disks, but they were met with a pink arch that caused them to explode before hitting a target.
Beast Boy changed into a rhino and charged at Coil, who jumped sideways and left Mammoth to meet the charging animal. Mammoth did just that, grabbing the horn and mouth of the beast and lifting him into the air. He grinned and tossed him at the other Titans. While flying, Beast Boy changed fro rhino to armadillo, curling into a ball. He flew past the Titans and smacked Steel Skin in the face. Steel Skin stumbled, and Starfire smashed her fist into his gut while she could.
The jade eye alien punched and kicked every part of metal on Steel Skin, but on hit was caught in his crushing grip. He hoisted her into the air and chucked her, where she was caught by a diving Robin. Raven smashed a lawn mower into Steel Skin as soon as her mental powers got a hold of it.
"We can not fight a war on two sides. We must retreat." She said as she hurled more and more merchandise in the pawn store at the charging metal skinned foe.
"Rae's right, we have to re-group." Cyborg called out as he ran in with a fist to Mammoth, connecting with the side of his face but receiving a blow to the metal kidneys in return.
Robin gritted his teeth as he deflected more laser shots from Gizmo, who had abandoned his pack for spider legs to swat at the oncoming green pest with. "Alright. Titans, Fall back!" called the Titan leader. Beast Boy changed into a falcon and took flight. Starfire caught a knock backed Cyborg and carried him off. Raven grabbed Robin and teleported them away.
Thus the Titans were gone from the fight, leaving the hive members and Steel Skin.
"So…" Steel Skin smiled and cracked his neck. "How 'bout that fight you promised."
He charged the four, yelling with fists ready. Mammoth charged back, the two slamming together in the middle of the street with their hands locked. They struggled for an advantage, but it was Steel Skin who would win this fight. Rearing back, he slammed his head into Mammoth's, knocking the big man back and sending stars through his vision. Steel Skin was about to drop his fist down onto the fallen foe when he was peppered by laser blasts from Gizmo, who took a swing at him with a mechanical spider leg. The attack left a big scratch across Steel Skin's stomach, but no other harm was evident. Instead, Steel Skin grabbed the swinging limb and tore it off, the end sparking and Gizmo fighting for balance. The metal leg was swung like a bat, taking down the other three with one blow. Gizmo landed on his butt, looking up to see Steel Skin standing over him.
Steel Skin raised the metal leg, but got tackled from behind by Mammoth. The shoulder tackle knocked him forward, into the platform shoe of Jinx, who slammed her shoe right into his nose and pressed forward, taking him down to the street. Coil was there next, dropping his leg to knock Steel Skin's ribs into his internal organs. Steel Skin rolled, Coil's boot hitting only pavement.
"You don't talk do you?" Steel Skin asked when he was back on his feet. He dusted off his vest and looked at Coil, who was still without emotion. "Steel Skin just asskin" He said with a shrug of his metal shoulders.
"They told me not to talk." Coil said sheepishly, his face falling into a stupid grin and the entire air of strength he had once held disappearing in an instant. Steel Skin laughed hard before lunging with a strait punch. Coil side-stepped, grabbing Steel Skin's thick wrist in one hand and slamming his other fist into the metal face. There was a pause, then Coil's knuckles turned red.
Leaping back in pain, Coil nursed his injured hand, hopping around with his throbbing knuckles cradled in front of him. Steel Skin burst out in a fit of laughter as someone that had once been very intimidating now looked like a little kid who had stubbed a toe. He didn't laugh too much, as another platform shoe struck him on the back of the neck. He whipped around to catch a face full of pink, this blast forcing his entire body backwards; his heals digging trenches in the street.
He looked at Jinx with a smirking face. His eye went suddenly wide however when one of his knees gave out on him thanks to a kick to the back of the knee cap. Down on one knee, Steel Skin saw the next kick aimed for his face and caught the offending foot before it hit. He rose to his feet, Coil hopping on one foot to remain standing as his other foot was being held. Steel Skin chuckled in his throat and grabbed Coil by the collar. Lifting him up, the metal machine tossed him like a sand bag into the grill of a bus, which Coil went strait through. Satisfied that one of them was no longer a threat, if alive at all, Steel Skin turned to worry about the other three. Mammoth and Gizmo had regrouped on Jinx, all three having witnessed one of their team members just shoved through a bus. Their knowledge of Coil was limited, and so far he had only showed the abilities of a trained human. If he was indeed jut that, then there was little chance of him surviving such an attack.
Steel Skin took a single step towards the remaining three when he heard something. It almost sounded like bits of metal being moved against one another. He turned towards the direction of the sound to find himself staring at the bus he had rammed Coil through. He watched as Coil staged out of the hole he had made. Besides a few nicks and cuts, he seemed fine.
"That... hurt." Coil growled in a tone that robbed Steel Skin of the warmth in his body. Coil's arms shot out in front of him, the bandages on his palms seeming to explode as something long and black shot from his hands. By the time Steel Skin realized what it was, it was wrapped around his neck and body, his arms pinned to his sides. What was holding him was something that looked like lengths of steel cables, totally black and as big around as braided rope. The ends of the cables where pointed into spikes and the bases were actually Coil's palms. Two strands, one from each of Coil's palms, wound around Steel Skin, constricting his movement and breathing.
"Surr…rendir" Steel Skin managed with little air. Coil didn't seem to hear him as his gold eyes were set like stones in his head, his fingers wrapped around the strand coming from his palms like they were whip handles.
The three were worried about the new guy actually killing the man they had been sent to recruit, but none of them could work up the nerve to stop him. Finally Jinx did, for the sake of the mission. She stormed over as fast as she could and, once within arm reach, reared back and back handed Coil hard across the face. Coil's once stone face seemed to crack and chip, his angered and frightening façade disappearing as his grip on the strand loosening. The cords slacked, and Steel Skin fell from their grip coughing and holding his throat. The cords retracted back into Coil's palms, and there was a sharp but quick clicking noise like a camera lens.
Coil looked down at his hands as if they were smeared with blood. Jinx tilted her head to see what held his attention, but Coil buried his hands in his pockets before she could get a look. She looked back up to meet his eyes, which were drilling holes in her.
"…Thanks…" Coil managed, talking as if he were out of breath. He dropped his gaze and sat down on the ground. Jinx looked at him a moment longer before walking over to Steel Skin; they still had a job to do.
"We gave you your fight." She held out the Hive communicator. "Are you in?"
Steel Skin seemed to have regained his breathing and slowly got to his feet. He looked at the small yellow device before reaching out and taking it. "You vin. Nearly killed me, but you vin. I'm in." He slipped the communicator into a pocket of his vest.
"They'll call you when you are needed. Until then, try to stay out of jail." She flicked her hand in a small wave off and walked back to Coil, who was now standing with Gizmo and Mammoth. This was their new team, and so far they were winning. As they walked off, Steel Ski watched them, taking out the communicator and looking at it in his hand.
"Revelations" (or) "A Reason to Skip Class"
The need for classes began shortly after the Hive team's recruitment of Steel Skin, who was waiting enrolment at the moment. In each of his classes, Coil had at least one of his team members with him. This was by no means a coincidence, and he was not foolish enough to think so. It was not such a problem that it needed to be complained about, but it had its flaws. Every other day he had to put up with Gizmo giving the hard treatment about his inferior intellect, and having weight training with Mammoth was discouraging. It only truly became awkward when the inevitable question arose.
It was during demolitions and viruses, Col working with Jinx on a remote detonator for a small piece of explosive, when she asked.
"Your powers," She started, fitting a microchip into place and handing it to him to solder on.
"What about them?" He asked as he set the contraption down and set the soldering iron to it.
"Everyone's got a story... What's yours?" She asked, watching him work with her arms resting on the table. They were working in pairs for this assignment, and shared a small circular table.
He handed the device back to her. "No story here." He said with a shrug. She wasn't sure she believed him, but didn't say so as she placed the electronic parts into the metal casing. "Don't know how I got my powers" He continued. Jinx paused in connecting the plated to listen. "One day I just woke up with metal ropes coming out of my palms." He smiled a little, looking down at the fresh wrappings around his palms. "How do you think I got the name Coil?"
Jinx didn't say anything. The last piece fit into place, and she began screwing in the receiver and trigger. "Why the first aid?" She asked comically.
Coil lifted his hands a little, palms facing him. "I…don't like what's under them. It makes me feel…hollow." The lat word was almost pained, and Jinx looked up at him as the trigger was secured in place. For a moment they just looked at one another, then she pushed the button and the piece of C4 between them went off, blowing the table to shards and knocking both of them backwards off their chairs.
The instructor, a gaunt man with a cybernetic hand and a balding scalp walked over to them. "Congratulations" he said, looking at the two of them on the floor. "You finished. Next time, try to stay away from the thing you plan on blowing up." Some of the class chuckled at them under their hands, but none out loud.
Lunch came, Jinx and Mammoth sitting on one side of a table with Gizmo across from them.
"So the newbs just a guy with junk in his system? What a jip. Even metal head was better than him." Gizmo commented, dropping chicken pieces into his mouth. Mammoth was shoveling through his own meal with hast.
"He handled his own." Jinx said, pawing at her food with a spoon before shoving over to Mammoth, who was more than happy to drop it down his throat.
"He' still got nothin compared to us." Gizmo boasted, his face smug. A black metal coil rapped around his mouth, not tight enough to do any damage but enough to keep itself for getting torn off.
"Oh ye of little faith." Came a voice from behind the tiny technician. The cable retracted, and Coil sat down on the other side of Jinx, plate before him. "Does this place always serve mashed potatoes?" He asked, looking down at his food. Everyday so far there had always been a helping of potatoes on his plate at lunch.
"You complainin?" Asked Mammoth, anxious as ever to get his hands on more food.
Coil dropped a spoon full into his mouth. "Not at all." He said with a smile as more and more disappeared from his plate at an alarming rate.
Jinx had no food and no reason to stay, so she got up and began walking out of the cafeteria. Mammoth, Coil, and Gizmo watched her walk off, then the three turned to one another. They had orders not to go alone, so one would have to tag along with Jinx. Since no one was looking forward to such a chore, they played 'rock, paper, scissors' for it.
Mammoth finished off his new plate about the same time Coil caught up with Jinx. He silently reminded himself to stop throwing scissors so much, Mammoth after all never through anything but rock.
"Where you going?" He asked her, standing a few feet behind her tracks as she walked.
"Anywhere but there." She replied without turning around.
"Ok…" Silence for a moment. "You know classes are starting soon." He said, looking for anything to talk about. Silence made him uncomfortable.
Jinx turned in a graceful circle till she was walking backwards, her hands clasped behind her. "Afraid to cut class?" She asked teasingly, her grin mocking and her body bent towards him.
"Afraid? No, no, not at all." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. Jinx's eyes noticed that his bandages were gone from his hands, and when he moved his hands back to his side she caught a quick glimpse of something metal on his palm. Suddenly she stopped walking and reached out, grabbing his wrist and lifting his hands to her eyes.
"Hey! Wait!" Coil called out in surprise, but Jinx wouldn't let his hand go.
Resting on his palm, imbedded into the skin was what looked like a small metal sliding door; the kind commonly associated with air locks. The skin around it looked as if it were tucked under the metal frame around the hatch.
"Is this what you've been hiding?" She said more as a note than a question. Coil quickly snapped his hand from her grip, dropping it quickly into his leather jacket pocket.
"It's were the strands come out." He said, turning his gaze as if ashamed of it. Jinx watched him with all the intensiveness of a feline, and then did something rather random. Leaning sideways, she cart wheeled down the hall before moving into back flips. Coil watched stupefied for a moment before coming back to his senses and following quickly after the pink haired caster.
Jinx stopped her acrobatics at the fork in the hallway. She turned to look down both ways, and realized it was the same place the three of them had met Coil. Coil jogged into place behind her, looking down both ways as well.
"Isn't this…" He started, but was cut off as Jinx grabbed his wrist and flat out ran down one hallway. Coil could do little else but try to keep up, relying a little on Jinx to just drag him some of the way. For a slim person, she was remarkably fast.
They stopped at a door that was no different from the rest, but obviously Jinx knew where they were. Letting go of Coil, she put her hand to the small blue panel next to the door. The metal door opened with a whoosh, and Jinx stepped inside. Coil paused outside for a moment.
"This is the girls' dorms…" He said, looking around as if he was not sure he should have been there. He didn't have much of a choice as he was dragged in by his sleeve. The door hissed shut behind him, and Jinx hit a few buttons on another blue panel. The panel turned red for a moment, then back to blue.
"Why did you bring me in here?" Coil asked, still a little disoriented. If this was a girl's dorm, and Jinx could get in… then that meant…
"You're not very quick are you?" She said with a wink, walking away from him and deeper into the door. It was nothing fancy, and only slightly better than the guys' dorms: a living area, a bathroom, and two beds. The place was a very odd color though. The sheets of one of the beds were a light purple, the walls neon pink and most of the furniture black. It was like someone had been a bi-polar youth who could not decide if they were feeling girlish or Goth while furnishing. The entire place screamed Jinx.
What bugged Coil was that the other bed was neatly made and totally white. "Who's your roommate?" He finally asked as Jinx sat down on her bed.
"Don't need one." Jinx commented with a smirk, motioning for him to sit across form her on the empty bed. He did, his hands resting in his lap while Jinx spread her legs out on her own bed.
"You don't seem to fit in here…" She said, her head resting on one hand, her body lying on the bed.
Coil thought for a moment, looking to the ceiling. "Well… I never expected to see myself as a villain."
Jinx quirked and eyebrow, and Coil took that as she didn't fully understand. "I never planned on being a bad guy." He explained. "But I didn't want to exactly help people either. People have screwed up my life, so why go out of the way to help them? Why help them at all?" He stopped, then looked into her cat eyes. "How about you?"
She rolled over on her bed, her head hanging upside down over the side. "Being good it too boring."
There was a moment of awkward silence, and Coil started to fidget where he sat, moving his hands back and forth and bouncing a little on the bed. Jinx watched as if she were fascinated with every movement he made, yet it was obvious that her mind was elsewhere. When Coil scanned the room, his gold eyes caught sight of a small picture on the table next to Jinx's bed. The picture showed Jinx, dressed with her hair down in a dark violet dress, standing next to a black guy in a suit with a meta band on his forehead.
"Who's that in the picture?" Coil asked.
Jinx seemed to snap out of her mental thoughts and looked over to the picture, her face contorted and her hand flicked towards the picture as if knocking it aside. The glass cracked and the picture fell onto its face.
"I'm going to fix my hair." She said absently, rising and walking into the bathroom. The door locked, and Coil was alone. He rose and walked over to the fallen picture, picking it up and looking through the broken glass at the two. They were standing under a painted banner, a pink flower pinned to Jinx's dress and a white one on the suit of the unknown man. The man standing beside Jinx looked oddly familiar to Coil, but he could not figure out who it was.
He head the door to the bathroom click open, and Coil turned around to see Jinx standing in the doorway. She was still dressed in her usual attire, but her hair was no longer in the pointed tails that she normally wore it in. Instead, her hair was down and fell behind her neck, the strands pushed around her ears. Coil momentarily forgot to exhale as he looked at her.
"What are you doing?" She asked, a little annoyance slipping into her voice, her hands on her hips. Coil didn't understand at first, but then he looked down to realize his hand was still holding the picture frame. He fumbled, trying to place it back on the table, first placing it the wrong way, then trying to place it upside down. Finally he got it right, and immediately it fell down as it had been before he had picked it up.
Letting it sit there, Coil smiled like an idiot with his hands behind his head.
Jinx walked right past him and set the picture back up, her back to Coil. She stood up after it was reset and looked at him. "What did I tell you about touching?" She said with a slim grin, her head tilted to one side. Coil sweated as he tried to remember what she had said.
"Ask?" He answered tenitivly.
Jinx's grin widened. "Right." She shoved him, his feet tripping over one another and his body landing flat on the floor. He looked up to see Jinx standing over him. "Time for you to leave." She said as if counting out the hour. Coil gulped, nodded, and half crawled to the door, where he was immediately let out without having to touch the panel. After he left, Jinx watched the door a moment before turning her gaze to the picture, the crack on the glass running between her and the man in the suit. Jinx huffed and knocked the frame over again, walking back into the bathroom to put her hair up.
Coil stumbled out into the hallway, and ran his head right into a burly chest. He fell backwards, landing on his ass and looking up to see who it was he had run into. Standing over him was the beast Mammoth, arms crossed over his chest.
"Watch it!" He barked, he looked from Coil to the door he had come from. "Why were you in Jinx's room?" He asked, as if suspecting Coil of doing something bad to Jinx or her room.
Coil held his hands up in defense. "She dragged me in! I-I didn't want to miss class!" He pleaded. Mammoth snarled ad shook his head. He couldn't believe this was the same guy who had fought with them against the Titans not a few days before.
"Head Mistress called and assembly. Everyone's s'pose to be there."
Coil got the hint and rose to his feet, walking away towards the lecture hall. Mammoth watched him take the turn at the fork and moved to Jinx's door, the panel swinging open and his body barely squeezing through the door to get inside.
Next:
A special guest to Hive, and an assignment that brings down a dark force upon Jump City