A/N: Hey everyone, I told you I wasn't leaving you guys! I just have a lot of work on my plate now, w/school, work, and track starting up again next week. Plus, I'm writing a screenplay for a drama class and that always sux, especially when I get to write all those yucky papers for english!

But, enough of me complaining. I'm gonna warn you all now, this chapter is neither long, nor very action-packed, but it is needed to move the plot along. Plus, there may be some fluff in this chappie towards the end, but I'm not saying who! So, enough of me, on to the story!

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Chapter 6: From Bad to Worse, then back to Good!

Allies really are a fleeting idea. For instance, during World War II, the Soviet Union and the US were comrades, maybe not best friends, but we were allies. Fast forward to ten years later, the Cold War is going on, and nuclear war between the previously mentioned partners seems imminent. Even somebody who seems to be an ally, can turn on you in a heartbeat, case in point, Terra.

Now, there's someone who we can talk about for hours on end, but I won't bore any of you with those ramblings.

Going back to my original argument, I suppose there is no such thing as an absolute ally, the concept is just to unpredictable. But, I suppose they are needed, for if you do not have allies, friends, or whatever you may call them, it is much harder to fight common enemies. Besides, sometimes having a little faith in humanity can help ward off those pesky feelings of despair…

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You know that moment of stunned silence that seems to happen after you do something so completely embarrassing it's impossible to laugh it off? That moment that seems to last forever, when in reality it lasts for maybe a few seconds? Well, that's kind of the reaction that happened when the Titans came face to face with their unexpected guest. Only, no one burst out laughing after the seconds were done.

" What are you doing here Jinx?" Raven asked, her voice filled with contempt.

" Well," Jinx started. " I thought you guys needed some help with your new villain in town."

" So," Raven answered disbelieving. " You just decided to change sides, by the good will of your heart?"

" Yeah," Beastboy agreed. " That sounds a little fishy to me. Maybe she's not really Jinx, but a robot sent here to abduct us all to space!"

" Beastboy!!!!!" both Cyborg and Raven yelled, while the other three simply glared at the obnoxious little imp. Seeing that his team didn't like his theory, he gave an exaggerated sigh and sat down on the couch.

Shaking her head, Jinx just walked over to the huge window and looked out over the ocean. She ran a jittery hand through her long, pink hair and said, " Listen Raven I don't expect you, or any of the Titans for that matter, to trust me. But, I do ask that you hear what I have to say. After all, I just committed treason against the Hive, I have no one to go to, and have no idea what I plan to do after this meeting; how dangerous can I really be?"

Raven, Cyborg, and Beastboy all looked at each other, not quite sure of what or how they should proceed, and looked to the silent members to seek their opinion.

Neither Starfire or Robin were looking at each other, to afraid of all the unspoken questions between them, but finally Robin said, " I think we should hear her out. She had the opportunity to kill me, and she didn't," Robin raised his voice a little bit after this sentence because of all theexclamations of surprise at him. " She had the opportunity to cut off the head of this team, and she refused, I think we can trust her enough to hear what she has to say."

" Yes," Starfire said quietly, choosing to ignore her feelings for the time being to focus at the problem facing the heroes. " I agree with friend Robin. Jinx has shown great courage coming here, please, let us hear her tale to tell."

Cyborg, who had a huge grin spreading across his face, took a seat on the coach next to Beastboy, a signal to the others to do the same. The other three sat around the couch, both Starfire and Robin taking care to not sit next to each other as usual, and Raven gave a motion for Jinx to start.

" Okay, well, I guess I should start at the beginning," She began slowly, but clearly. " About three weeks ago, Slade came to the academy and asked if Gizmo, Mammoth, and myself would assist his new apprentice in destroying the Teen Titans. The other two agreed whole-heartedly, I agreed because I felt obligated to the institution.

" Anyway, the three of us went to his 'secret' lair and we met with his apprentice for the first time. I must admit, I was rather surprised to see the petite girl standing in front of us, for she did not seem to be threatening at all. She was actually in the process of tending a wound on her leg!

" When she turned to regard us, it was then that I realized why she was Slade's newest cohort. Her voice radiated menace and power. It chilled all three of us to the core, and I was afraid to be anywhere near her for the first week by myself. For, it was plain to see that the girl did not care for Mammoth or Gizmo, and I believed she only tolerated me because I was born with my gifts, not created.

" It went well for those two weeks, we were trained to fight in harmony with her, and she learned how to manipulate our talents to her own benefit. She confided in me her name, her birthplace, and all other matters of personal history, because she felt as if 'someone ought to know,' and since I was the only girl around to disclose information to, Viper chose me. So, I suppose you would like to know the exact extent of her abilities yes?" Jinx asked the Titans, catching them off guard for they had been absorbed in her story.

" If you don't mind," Robin answered shortly.

" Well, I suppose you all know of her enhanced strength and speed, but there is so much more to it then you realize. Those abilities are there because half of her genetic structure is from the DNA of a snake, a King Cobra to be exact. She has those abilities because the snake has a super strength and speed in accordance to its body, and because hers is much larger than a snake's, her skills are significantly more pronounced.

" Oh, she also has the animal instinct to tell when greater predators, danger to you or me, is present; I suppose it is like a sixth sense. Oh, and her name comes from her trademark skill. She has poison filled nails which expand when she is about to attack, or to the snake, strike."

" But why," Raven asked. " No wait, how did she become this way?"

Jinx took a breath before starting again with, " I was getting to that. Her parents were both eccentric Zoologists who wished to preserve endangered animals from extinction by any means possible. There was an accident in their lab one day, and her mother convienently happened to be pregnant with her, and Viper's mother's DNA was mixed with the cobra's DNA. Naturally, it affected Viper's Dna, which was beginning to form from inside the mother's womb, and it resulted in her being half animal."

" So," Beastboy said sadly. " What you're sayin' is that she's like me. I mean, having animal DNA and all."

" No," Jinx said firmly. " You are not like her. You may have the beast within you, but you do not let it control you, you're more human than most regular humans. Viper is an animal, she follows the basic animal instincts with human intelligence which makes her very dangerous." She paused here to regain her bearings and then continued.

" Well, complications like those that were caused by Viper's mutation made it impossible for her mother to survive the birth. And Viper's father, who was so desolate in his loss of his wife, hated his daughter with a passion and treated her awfully.

" But, I stray from what I came here to tell you. Slade's plan for destroying Jump City. He plans, and is succeeding, in creating a new virus to infect the city, and who doesn't die, will become his slaves, for only he will ahve the antidote. With Viper's poison, this can be made into a reality and I did not know how to stop it on my own. I know the basic method of diluting the poison, but I have no idea for how to get into the complex, we were never allowed into the lab area of the base. So you see, I couldn't stand by and watch this insane scheme take place, because it will endanger my school and home as well as the rest of the city. So, who knows, maybe I'm not such a bad person after all."

If you all thought the silence at the beginning of the story was bad, well, this round topped it. Not one of the teens knew what to say, or even how to think of a solution to the dilemma now facing them.

The Titans were having a really bad couple of weeks, yes?

" Well," Robin said with no enthusiasm in his tone at all. " Let's try to think of something. Maybe we can come up with some plan in how to stop Slade and Viper." He rose from his seat and started to head towards his room, when he turned around and addressed Jinx. " You're welcome to stay here Jinx. I think Cyborg will be able to show you to a vacant room," he said with a yawn as he headed up the stairs and disappeared behind the doorway.

" Umm yes!" Starfire exclaimed suddenly as she jumped up from her seat. " I think I will also retire to the room of beds and think of how to solve this quandary." She suddenly went flying in the direction that Robin went, and disappeared behind the doorway.

" Hey," Beastboy said as he and Raven both got up and started to head towards their respective quarters. " Isn't Star's room the other way?

"You are so clueless," Raven muttered as she pulled Beastboy the other way to give her teammates some privacy. That left only Cyborg and Jinx in the living room, but that was remedied as the android led the witch to her temporary room, but we'll come back to them later.

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Starfire caught up with Robin and called out his name, determined to speak with him about what had occurred with them on the roof that evening. However, as he turned to face her, she found she had no words to speak to him with, and felt embarrassed as she just stared at him.

" Um, Robin," she began uncertainly.

" No," Robin said emotionlessly. " Don't Star. It's not worth it. What happened up there, well, I'm sorry it turned the way it did. I didn't mean to say those things, and I'm sorry."

" But Robin…"

" Let's just not talk about it, please Star?" Robin asked, the last part giving away the pleading tonein his voice that was so uncharacteristic of the Boy Wonder.

So surprised at the change in character in the boy-wonder, Starfire involuntarily closed the space between herself and Robin and reached out and stroked the side of his face. She murmured, " You are such a mystery." Then, realizing what she was doing, she pulled back her hand and started to fly down to her room to try hide the blush overtaking her entire face. Trying to act as if everything was normal, she shouted back to her leader, " Fare thee well Robin! I hope your dreams consistof pleasant thoughts, like of bottles of mustard and the same!"

Watching her go, Robin felt a horrible ache in his chest, one that begged for the alien's touch to have lasted a little bit longer. Sighing, so absolutely frustrated with himself, he trudged the rest of the way up to his room, knowing exactly of what kinds ofpleasant thoughts he would be dreaming about that night.

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" Well," Cyborg said in his loud, warm voice. " Here it is! I think it was gonna be Rae's room at one point, but that never panned out. I thought you might like it."

" I love it," Jinx said with a blush as he led her into the dimly lit room. It was painted in a deep purplish color, and the roof had splatterings of silver all throughout it, giving the impressions of a million stars winking at her. " It's a very, erm, magical room."

" Great," Cyborg said in his booming voice. He then looked at her and asked, " What made you come here Jinx?" I mean, you didn't seem to be listening to what I was saying the other week."

" No, I listened." Jinx answered, not looking at Cyborg as she unpacked her belongings. " I just didn't want to understand. I didn't want to consider the possibility of what you were saying ending up being true. Call it fear if you want, but that's what it was.

She then looked at him, and walked over to the mechanical man, closing the distance between them so it was only a few inches. " I was afraid of my feelings about you being true. I was afraid of you getting hurt in that fight the other week. But most of all, I was afraid of not being with you Cyborg, and I guess that is what ultimately drove my decision to come here and lay everything I had done on the line." She gave him an impish grin, relishing in the fact that he looked absolutely shocked at her confession. He then put her hands on his waist and said, " Besides, I never took any risks worth taking back there."

Cyborg, now very nervous at how close Jinx was to him answered, " And what kinda risks are we talking about?"

" This kind," she said as she put her hand behind Cyborg's neck and pulled him into a kiss. Now, this wasn't some fairy tale kiss where the sky lights up or where everyone does a double-take because they feel something amazing had just happened, but that didn't lessen this kiss any more. It was two people baring their feelings and insecurities to each other, and that made it beautiful. When the two broke away, Cyborg's head was spinning, and Jinx's spine was tingling, it was just one of those really good, non-awkward first kisses that only happen to the rare few, or the few with bountiful experience. Jinx smiled as she kissed Cyborg again, and as he kissed back it seemed that just for an instant, all their troubles and worries could be forgotten as only one thought ran through both of the lovebirds' heads.

' Now this is a risk worth taking."

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A/N: Okay, so I obviously don't know how to writ a shorter chapter! Go figure! Very sorry for the delay, but I thank each and everyone of you readers who kept their patience w/ me, and didn't hunt me down w/ a pitchfork and torch!

Hope y'all liked it, didn't I promise that there would be some fluff!?? Oh, and keep the fairy tale reference in mind, it's gonna be important in the story later on! I'll try to get chapter seven out as soon as I can, so again, please by patient and I will get to the end I promise!!

Better yet I Girl Scout Promise!!!! Okayyyy… enough soda after 8;) Osco