Ok… Well the purists are REALLY gonna hate me for this, or maybe you won't. Finally they arrive, as I'm sure you knew they would, its hard to keep them out. Well quite simply the H.I.V.E. have spent a year apart, ish, the details of what exactly they have been doing will be reveled in time. As for Gizmo's speech… well this just seemed more appropriate. As ever tell me what you think!

"G0D, I'm 50 b0r3d U GuY5,"

"Shut up. Just stop talking." Jinx pinched the bridge of her nose; she was getting sick of this.

"sCrEw Y0U, i R0X0R!" Gizmo said, his voice had taken on a metallic twang since his last set of implants. Some in the H.I.V.E. said they would send him as a spy to S.T.A.R. when he was old enough. Jinx doubted it; lucky as she was it would be too much to ask to have this eight-legged fool transferred. Behind her near silent steps and the incessant tapping of the little freaks, steps came the slow thunderous progression of Mammoth. He had grown since the last fight with the Titans, just as her powers had progressed; even Gizmo she had to admit with his new implants and modifications was rapidly becoming deadly.

Yet still we are at his beck and call.

So here they were, about a mile underground outside Jump. There was one thing you had to give Slade, he might be a pompous ass, hide his… delicious face behind a mask and have a penchant for melodrama. But no one designed a base quite like him. All dark metal and hidden turrets. His usual robot guards lurking in the shadow in greater numbers than she had seen before. One of the rooms she had been in was the closest thing to a barracks those robots had, was Slade building an Army?

If so he would, have more than those jumped up boy scouts to deal with. But then there was nothing the three of them couldn't handle now, it had been eighteen months since they had last clashed with the Titans. She had been to Europe, training, always training. Gizmo had been with the crime syndicate of America while Mammoth came with her. He had changed since his time in the Black Forest. But then they all had. Her powers would leave that little gothic cow dizzy until she decided to take her apart piece by piece; Mammoth though was almost like a different person. He was quiet all the time, when they had clashed with the Justice League of Europe he had been so calm, he didn't just use brawn anymore he fought with a casual skill when ever anyone asked what he had done in the forest he just said he had been 'getting in touch with his roots', what ever that meant.

"wH7 Do u 7hInK 7H3 0lD mn wn75 U5 F0R nYwy5?" Gizmo clanged out shattering her concentration.

"Who knows, he never tells us anything till we get there. Even you know that geek." She responded calmly, had she changed? Everything just seemed so easy now; she had surpassed her erstwhile teacher by the end of the year. The woman hadn't expected the attack at the end, but she couldn't afford rivals being trained up. On the other hand, was it a year with London's nightlife, she could legally drink over there, well not legally but no one seemed to care, she had matured in more ways than one.

"I kN0W 7H7 jInX, w3 lL kN0W 7H7, I 7HiNkInG B0U7 b357 gU35535, Kn0w Wh7 I m3N?" She hated the way she said his name now but in the two months since she and Mammoth had gotten back Gizmo's even more annoying speech pattern, though that was hard to believe in itself, was made up for by his new abilities. He was now packing more gadgets that he ever had; some of them were even useful she thought her habitual smirk breaking into an open grin.

"Oh course she knows what you mean. Now stop cringing, we shall find out soon enough." Jinx almost jumped in surprise, Mammoth's voice was deeper to it rolled like slow thunder, that with his new dark grey and black outfit made him seem like a storm made flesh.

"Yeah, as he said. Here we are." The huge bulkhead doors of Slade's inner sanctum hissed open before them, more robotic guards bowing out of their way.

"Ahhhh. So the students return. Have you enjoyed the last year?" Slade's calm, oily voice greeted them from an almost throne-like steel chair atop a apparently weightless floating dais. As the large steel construction floated past Slade stepped off the swift moving platform apparently effortlessly, moving with the casual, almost inhuman grace they had come to expect. But without even waiting for a response he cut back in. "Excellent, you have returned at a most… opportune time. The victory is at hand, but now the prize has become greater. It is not just Jump that will be ours, not just the lives and souls of the Titans to destroy. The world lies open to us." Jinx glanced around the room casually, still the same archaic yet high tech themes, and below where the floating dais had come to rest was an assembly of black leather chairs.

Slade made casual gestures for them to take a seat as he took he crossed the room to an expansive control panel. His gauntleted fingers tapped at controls as they took their seats. Gizmo had a little difficulty before just collapsing his back legs and sliding in backwards. Mammoth just smiled at his, pushed it aside and sat on the floor, crossing his legs. Jinx smiled as her skin rubbed against the ruff leather of the chair, swinging a lilac thigh over one arm she tossed back her hair and sank back into its deep padding.

"Comfortable, babe?" That voice, the over confident drawl could only be one person.

"Hey X, you come begging for scraps or just a pat on the head?"

"Oh, come on witch, no need to be harsh to an old friend is there?" Red X sauntered into sight, leaning over her chair she smiled up at him. "You weren't so… cold when we last met." Behind the thief she could she Mammoth's face darken, his eyes seemed to glitter in their deep hollows. Why was he so angry? Was he this protective of his friends? For the second time this year she was glad she was one of them.

"Things change X and unless your feeling" she gently began to stroke his masked face, allowing a little magic to flow into it glowed like an indigo torch. "Very, very lucky. You'll take a seat. All the way over there." She gestured across the ring of chairs with her foot. He seemed to hesitate for a second, Mammoth stirred almost imperceptibly behind him.

"Sure babe, whatever you say" He said it in the same nonchalant tone but crossed the room with a minutely smaller swagger. Gizmo through all this was glancing around the room like a four year old in an amusement arcade, occasionally licking his lips.

"What's up geek? You look like you're in a radio shack." She sneered at him, what had gotten him so excited?

"hAvEn'T u G07 3y35 In Y0Ur H3d JiNx? cn'7 U l00K R0UnD, 7h3 oLd mn'5 N3W dIgS r3, hOoKeD uP! i M3n ToTaLy 1337!" He garbled out, almost brimming over with glee.

"Sure… Its Slade you were expecting perhaps concrete walls and a few shotguns? Get real."

"n0, u d0n'7 g37 I7. i7'5 R3lLy 0u7 7h3r3. H3 Mu57 g07z 50m3 N3W MoNeY, 0R CoNtAcTs 0r $0M7HiNg!"

"I do indeed Gizmo, even the something. You are not the only ones who have been developing over the past year." He gave the beginnings of a laugh. He never told you anything more than he thought he needed to. "May I introduce my new associate. Archon, head of the cult of Trigon."

Jinx looked up interested for the first time since arriving as from behind the steel throne came a man dressed all in blood red robes. His skin stretched taught, yellowed with time, his white hair though was still thick and his eyes blazed with an intensity that made Jinx feel like she was being dissembled piece by piece and examined. She could feel power radiating out from him as a fire gives out heat. Interesting…