"Raven, take a deep, deep breathe. Just relax," Jinx said soothingly. Robin had just explained the entire story to them and it was straining Raven's control to the limits, even with the buffering effect that Jinx's powers provided. Raven, as requested, drew a strained and shaky breath, trying to relax. It didn't work.
"Duck and cover," Raven warned in a voice that echoed with barely repressed power.
"Fuck," Jinx breathed. Robin knew this meant the shit would hit the fan, in the worst way possible. Reaching into his all-purpose utility belt and pulled out a seldom-used device. It was the one thing he never liked to use. The Lockdown initiator. He set the containment parameters to the living room and pushed the button. Immediately the emergency alarm sounded and enormous steel plates slid over the windows. The doors followed suit, leaving them sealed in the living room.
"Robin, should we not seek shelter as Raven warned," Starfire questioned as a pool of dark energy gathered around the girl in question. Adrenaline was the only thing that got the Boy Wonder up and pulling the alien princess and bad luck charm underneath the couch. This was done despite Jinx's most fervent protests.
"Let me go!" Jinx yelled.
"You get yourself killed if you run in there," Robin yelled back.
"Please Jinx, we must formulate a plan!" Star cried.
Jinx let herself go limp and try to think. Raven's powers were growing in ferocity, forming the black tentacles they were famous for. Said tentacles were ripping apart everything they could get their hands on, so to speak. Jinx knew her own powers could cancel out her lover's, but would that work on this scale. Even if it would work she would need a ladder or a black cat. If her own magic went out of control, then maybe both of them would be shocked out of it. Then again, she, Raven, or both of them could be killed. The decision took all of one second to make.
"Robin, do you have a mirror?" Jinx asked.
"Yeah, five of em, why?" Robin answered, curious about the seeming non-sequiter.
"Give them to me. My powers and Raven's can cancel each other's out, but they need to be matched. My powers grow exponentially when something like a mirror breaks," Jinx explained.
"Are you able to control your powers when they're like that?" Robin asked.
As an answer all he got was a hard, stubborn glare.
He handed over the five mirrors in his belt silently. They came in handy for looking around corners and stuff, but he never thought they'd be used for this.
Stepping on the pieces of reflective glass and hearing the cracks beneath her feet, Jinx briefly wondered what the result of this would be. She hadn't willingly done this in years, that time she had derailed a train. A tingling sensation deep within her body pulled her from her thoughts. A rumbling filled her ears, "Just let it flow, don't resist it," she reminded herself mentally. Though her power wreaked havoc, it could be truly deadly if held to the exploding point.
She could feel her eyes beginning to glow pink. It was coming.
All at once her feet were off the ground. A floating sensation now replaced the tingling one. The feeling filled her very mind, almost eclipsing her sight.
Robin watched in awe as two near limitless wells of power were poured on to each other. The entire tower was shaking now and each successive wave of energy that came into contact with the apposing energy a light started to grow in the room. It finally got to the point that Starfire and Robin had to shield their eyes. When the shaking and light peeked, an enormous explosion of pure magical force hit, rocking the room badly.
"Damn," Robin concluded as he looked about the room. Most everything was destroyed, but Jinx and Raven were lying, unconscious, on the ground, in each other's arms.
After making sure they were both breathing, Robin pressed the deactivator for the lockdown mechanism. As soon as the door was up Cyborg, Terra, and Beast Boy came rushing in.
"What happened!" Cyborg asked, looking at Jinx and Raven.
"Is everyone okay?" Terra asked, concerned.
"Dude! You killed the T.V.!" Beast Boy exclaimed with his usual tact.
After glaring at him a moment Robin spoke up," Everyone's all right. Tomorrow we'll repair the damage. Now I really need some..." Sadly Robin never finished his sentence as he fell to the ground in exhaustion.
Raven's first impression was of noise. Voices, to be exact. Her second impression was of an intense warmth within her. It was power, pure and simple. Her own power. What she guessed were the previous day's events suddenly rushed back to her. Finding her limbs tired, Raven slowly opened her eyes, blinking at the sudden brightness.
"Hey Sweetie, you awake already?" Jinx asked as she saw Raven's eyes flutter open.
"Jinx," Raven said groggily. Raven took an assessment of her condition easily enough; there were a few cuts and bruises, all bandaged. She also noticed she was in the barely used medical room, lying on a cot. Jinx was in a chair next to her. From what she could see, Robin was also in a bed, being watched over by Starfire.
"What happened?" Raven asked.
"You went a little wild and almost brought the house down, Beast Boy's still mourning the loss of his T.V.," Jinx replied comically.
"I guess you saved the day, huh?" The gothic girl stated more than asked.
"I did, didn't I? How do ya' like that?" Jinx said, scratching the back of her head. Jinx leaned down suddenly and kissed Raven on the lips. "Don't make me have to save you again. I don't want to see you in that kind of pain," Jinx pleaded.
"Did I remind you that I love you yet?" Raven asked.
Jinx smiled and kissed her again.
"Robin, friend Raven is now awake," Starfire said, ending their lover's moment.
Raven took a moment to compose herself, blushing slightly, she said," I'm sorry for not maintaining control."
Robin gave her a weak smile," It's okay Raven. All that matters is that we were able to save you without losing Jinx."
Raven gave Jinx a look that clearly said 'we'll talk later,' but turned to Robin again. "I'm also sorry if I did something to get you in here with me."
Robin blushed and looked away when she said that. "I just kind of fainted due to exhaustion. Starfire hasn't let me leave this bed except to go to the bathroom."
"May I go to my room now. Jinx and I need to talk," Raven requested.
"Cyborg gave you a clean bill of health, so if you're feeling all right, then sure," Robin responded.
Raven made to stand up, swooning dizzily and straight into Jinx's arms. "Oh No, You're not well," Jinx chastised as she picked the gothic girl up in a bridal carry, despite Raven's protests.
"I'm going to KILL Beast Boy," Raven resolved as she and Jinx stepped into her room. Beast Boy had seen them and made a few obscene comments about the situation.
"You can do that later, sleep now," Jinx ordered.
"I don't feel like sleeping," Raven responded obstinately.
"You're weak. You need to rest." Jinx countered.
Raven gave her a stubborn glare and crossed her arms on her chest. Jinx looked at her, thinking what to do, Raven answered the question for her.
"You risked your life to save me didn't you?"
"Guilty as charged," Jinx said happily.
"Why do care that much for me?" The gothic girl asked quietly, "I'm no good to anyone. I just cause trouble for everyone here. Why?" Jinx's answer to this question was a gentle and loving kiss. Crawling into the dark bed with her lover, Jinx wrapped an arm around Raven protectively. Pulling out of the kiss, Jinx nuzzled Raven's neck lightly. "You changed my life. You saved me. My guess is you've also saved your fellow Titan's lives at least once, so stop thinking of yourself as worthless. You deserve what you have and what you have is me." Raven consented to the snuggling wordlessly, but did raise one objection.
"I still don't want to go to sleep," Raven said once again.
"How about a story?" Jinx asked.
"No one's told me a story in a long time," Raven considered.
Jinx smiled and began. "Once, a long time ago and not to far away there was a little girl and her parents. Her mom had deep red hair and sky blue eyes. Her dad had light blond hair with soft golden eyes. The little girl had bright pink hair and her dad's eyes. The parents loved this child very much, but they were killed in a tragic fire. The girl was about five and knew to run from the hot flames. She ran and ran, not knowing where her parents were. Eventually a bad man found that she was special enough for a school he set up. He made the girl into the perfect thief, training her until she could steal anything. Then the girl met a kind super heroine who showed the girl the error of her ways. The pink-haired girl found that she had come to love this super heroine and visa-versa. They loved each other for the rest of their lives and met any obstacle together, beating it. The End."
The quaint way Jinx told her own life story made Raven remember that no teen in this tower was without his or her eccentricities. It was the 'natural part of being unnatural,' as Cyborg said. Jinx was no exception. She saw the world through a lawless view. Doing what she wanted to and had to. Being a HIVE member was a 'had-to,' the Titans was a 'want-to,' Raven didn't know it yet, but she was in another category altogether. 'Need.' Jinx and Raven physically needed each other. Their love actually sustained them.
"Do you have any family left Jinx?" Raven asked quietly.
"Headmaster let me know about my dad's family that carried the 'bad-luck' gene, but none of them are still alive. I never really knew my mom's family. I do remember a lady with hair like my mom's coming by with another little girl, though. I always wondered what it would be like to live a normal life, but I guess it would actually be pretty boring. I've grown used to this life. As weird as it is I kind of like the monotonous battles and living by my own rules. Especially the part about getting to sleep with you."
Jinx looked over at Raven as she finished her monologue. The sorceress was sleeping in her arms. Smiling, Jinx eased herself out of the bed, resolved to plan a dinner and night out for the two of them.
Meanwhile
Robin sighed. He was bored. Really bored, probably for the first time in his life. Starfire would not hear of him even touching a computer or lifting a finger for that matter. Between that and Starfire's cooking was beginning to bring on a slow, but steady headache.
"Star, can't I go to my room?" Robin asked for what seemed like the millionth time.
"No friend Robin. You are not fully healed yet. You may not leave until friend Cyborg says so," Starfire chided.
Robin suddenly became acutely aware of how close Starfire was to him. Her personality combined with her naiveté made close contact and hugs a normal occurrence.
Robin gulped. "So, Star...how do you feel..."
"Hey fearless leader, are we going to train today or what?" Beast Boy interrupted.
Robin sighed and looked to the annoying green teen. "No practice today BB, consider it a day off, short of emergencies, that is." Beast Boy immediately skipped off happily, saying something about Terra.
"As you were saying Robin," Star prompted politely, hoping beyond hope that Robin was going to say what he hoped he was going to say.
"Right, uhh Star how do you feel about me?" Robin said in a rush.
"Oh Captain, My Captain?" Jinx called out, invading another moment.
"Yes Jinx?" Robin growled out.
"Oops," Jinx said blushingly," I was just going to ask if I could use the computer?"
"Yes you can," Robin granted.
The pink-haired witch gave them a conspiratorially wink and cart wheeled out the door.
"You were saying?" Robin asked, eager to get on with the conversation.
"Robin, I have felt as though we were always friends, but that we have grown closer in the past weeks," Starfire said blushingly.
Encouraged by her responded, Robin continued. "Then what I really want to say, Star is that I..."
"Hey, how's our number 1 patient?" Cyborg yelled as he entered the room.
Two dark glares met his cheery greeting.
"Sorry! I'll be in my room, cowering in fear if you need me!" Cyborg cried as he fled the room.
Robin and Star looked back at each other and in a moment their lips met feverishly.
"I love you Star," Robin said breathlessly.
"I love you too, Robin," Starfire declared, equally breathless.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zenthos," Raven said slowly and deliberately. She had woken up an hour or two ago and had been meditating since then. It felt good to get her powers completely back under control. With Jinx and Slade she hadn't been able to really meditate for two or three days. It was odd, though. She felt a new emotion mingling with anger. Anger wasn't the emotion one usually pegged as 'friendly,' so naturally Raven was curious.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zenthos," she said again and let her mind fly through her mirror. Jinx knew not to disturb her while she was in a trance, but she would worry if Raven just disappeared.
Finding herself in the pathway of her mind, Raven confirmed that she was in anger's territory. All around the landscape was barren, what few grew were warped and stunted.
"Anger?" she called out in her normal monotone.
The red-cloaked Raven appeared before her. All four eyes glowing red with a kind of bored attention. "What?"
"Who's the new emotion?"
"Who said there was a new emotion?" She asked tauntingly, trying to provoke a response.
An even, steady stare was all the response given, making Anger sigh.
"Temptation?" Anger prompted. Immediately a version of herself she hadn't come across appeared. This new Raven had a black cape highlighted in reds, a composite between herself and Anger.
"Welcome. Whom do you stand for?" Raven said with a business-like voice.
"I'm your anti-conscience," she said sweetly.
The original Raven raised an eyebrow, letting the silence convey her lack of understanding as her hood was up.
"You know in all the corny movies where people have a devil and an angel on their shoulder? Well I'm the devil. I do have to admit, you didn't even bother listening to your darker tendencies until this age, I look forward to tempting you."
Raven examined this new influence on her life. Where had she come from?
"I was created to deal with the less than 'friendly' desires you have for Jinx," she supplied.
"So you're the one who's been giving me ideas," Raven acknowledged. She had had a series of fun, but dirty images in her mind having to do with Jinx lately.
"No need to thank me, just doing my job," the Raven smiled, "Now if you don't mind Anger and I have some thing to finish up." The hand around Anger's waist was and all too obvious hint. Raven decided to leave quickly.
"Too of my emotions are sleeping together," Raven said aloud, alarmed that the notion itself wasn't that alarming, was she that weird?
"That's almost as interesting as it disturbing," Jinx commented.
Jinx only giggled slightly at the half-hearted glare Raven sent her way.
"Wanna go out?" Jinx asked suddenly," Our Captain gave us the day off, no petty crimes or anything, just emergencies."
"A date? I'd like that," Raven resolved.
"C'mon then, let's go, lazy!" Jinx cried, forcing Raven into her closet. She slipped into a new set of clothes herself.
"Do I dare ask what you have planned," Raven asked, walking at a sedate pace. She had a pair of black dress pants on and a white dress shirt. The fact that she had opted to retain her cape made some passersby think that they saw a vampire. Jinx had opted for a long, tight, purple dress, accenting her pink hair, which she had let down for tonight.
It was around three and the sun was still up as Jinx led Raven into a restaurant. It was a nice place, suited to those who could throw money around. About halfway through dinner Raven couldn't take it anymore.
"Okay, how are you paying for this, and be honest. If you aren't I'll know," she said.
"Have you ever heard of a victimless crime Raven?" Jinx asked.
"Non-existent," the Goth responded automatically, not liking how Jinx had chosen to start the conversation.
"If we were to skip out," Jinx said conspiratorially," who would we hurt? The business that charges way too much? The staff that makes more money in tips than the average working businessman? The manager or the cook, who'll each go home to a house full of servants, will they be hurt? I fail to see the victim."
Raven's brows furrowed. It was tempting, but..."No, it's wrong, someone would get blamed for not catching us."
"Why are you so afraid of doing something wrong Raven," Jinx pressured.
There was a still silence before Raven answered. "This goes nowhere beyond us." She took a deep breath before continuing. "Remember when I mentioned my...family tree? I'm afraid that if I ever do anything to hurt anyone, anything wrong I'll like it and become like 'him.'"
It was clear by the intonation that Raven gave to the word that she meant her dad.
"You remember when you told me what Slade had said about that prophecy, don't you think you're just playing into it?" At Raven's clueless look she elaborated," You will become what you have hidden; something like that? If you like being bad, stealing stuff AND saving the day as a hero, then why not? It's who you are."
"I hadn't thought of that," Raven admitted," but it's not that easy. I can't just steal something."
"Why not?" Jinx said with an edge," Give me one good reason. Not one of those excuses you give everyone else."
"Because I couldn't face myself, or you," Raven admitted very quietly.
"First off you have nothing to fear from me. And second, if you can't even acknowledge a part of yourself, then you won't win a single battle. The only reason that I brought this up was that I've seen you concentrating the last few days. It didn't take a genius to guess what a longing, sympathetic glance at a common thief meant."
Raven was silent a long time before saying, "If we both go to the bathroom I can open a portal to the outside."
Jinx smiled, enjoying her victory.
"So, what now?" Raven asked.
"Well, we could go back to the tower, or we could go on a crime spree," Jinx said, smirking, "That is if you liked your first taste of a life of crime?"
"No one can get hurt," Raven said with certainty. "I'm only doing this for myself, no one should be hurt because of me."
"That's your motivation to be silent and unseen," Jinx pointed out. "I think there's a jewelry store down this way that closed a few hours ago."
Raven followed warily at Jinx's side as she led them to an alleyway next to a store. Raven recognized the name as one of the larger retail outlets for gems. That meant it wouldn't go out of business if they did take a few stones. She was starting to feel an odd sensation inside herself. It was the same thrill she got from a fight or the feeling that one of Jinx's kisses.
She put the sensation out of mind and watched as Jinx ran a finger along a computerized lock. The digit glowed pink and a few sparks flew out of the number pad. "Gotta love the bad luck," Jinx smirked.
Raven sat at the computer. It was the day after she and Jinx had...acquired some jewelry. Jinx couldn't get her to admit it, but she really did like stealing. The fact that she was wearing a diamond studded, golden necklace was proof enough of that. Jinx was still sleeping so she had taken this time to do a little searching on the net.
In short she had decided to find Jinx's family. She had started by using some old files that the Titan's had confiscated from the hive. She had used that to calculate the hive's bases and cross-reference that with a list that she had by searching the public archives of fires that occurred in private residences around the time Jinx would have been five.
Once that was done it was a simple matter of sorting through the remaining files by hand. "Five-hundred," Raven muttered. The number was a little higher than she had expected, which was bad. There had to be a way to lower the number. Raven thought for a moment and brought up another two windows. She brought up a list of missing persons form that year and cross-referenced those with a list of those that were confirmed dead. She then took the set of names on that list and cross-referenced it with the list that she had already created.
Looking at the confirmed names she smiled. "There are five families are still missing that lived in houses that burned down in the vicinity of hive bases," she said to herself, already clicking on the first file. The first two files were families that had multiple children. The next one didn't have any children, so they were all immediately crossed off. The last two were harder. They both had single children and they were both girls. The break came when she noticed that one of the files had a picture on it. The man and woman both fit Jinx's description. Not to mention that the child had bright, pink hair.
"Catherine Mara," Raven hummed. "If Mara is her father's name then what was her mother's?" Soon Raven had a wealth of information about Jinx's family. Evidently all the father's family was dead, just as Jinx had said, but the mother had a sister. Her name was Caitlin, but she had married, so instead of her maiden name, her last name was Possible. She had a daughter and a set of twins, both boys. "Possible? Why does that sound so familiar?" Raven said to herself.
She soon found her answer. Kim Possible, the daughter, had been saving the world from various evildoers for years, and as a result, had been in quite a few newspapers and television news coverage. Interestingly enough, Jinx's aunt was a brain surgeon and her uncle was a rocket scientist. There were several references to the twins, but almost all of them involved explosions. "Interesting family," Raven commented as she printed out several sheets of paper, which included a map to the Possible residence. By the time it took to find Robin, she had already formulated a plan of action.
She found the Boy Wonder walking out of Starfire's room with a satisfied smile on his face.
"I'm going to ignore the implications of this situation in light of the fact that you let Jinx and I share a room," Raven said in her normal monotone. Robin cheeks reddened slightly.
"Did you want to talk to me about something?" Robin asked, changing the subject.
Raven wordlessly handed over the papers she had been carrying.
Robin's eyes widened as he realized exactly who he was looking at.
"I assume you want to go there?" He asked, rereading some of the information.
"There is the matter of my two years worth of unspent vacation days," Raven said, hinting and moved to go.
"I'll tell her you had to leave on an urgent mission. She'll probably be mad at you though," Robin said as he handed the set of papers back.
Raven refrained from asking how he knew that she wouldn't be asking Jinx to come along. She had thought it best to make sure that the Possibles would accept Jinx before she met them. She knew first hand how bad rejection could be. As she walked to her room a few lights exploded as she thought of Melchoir. She quickly stopped by and grabbed a bag of clothes and a wallet with a few hundreds in it. Kissing Jinx goodbye, she left before her lover would wake up.
Bumblebee sighed. She missed Cyborg. She could tell that they had something. They were both competitive to the point of obsession and they could both get a little childish. Now that Aqua lad and Speedy were a little 'closer' and as a result were spending a lot of time together, she didn't really have anyone to spend much time with except the new member, Dream Clown.
"Guy trouble?" a voice asked.
Bumblebee looked to the source, startled. It was Dream Clown," Wanna talk about it? You had that lonely look on your face."
"That lonely look?" Bumblebee asked. Was she making a habit of staring off into space?
"That look that says that you really miss someone. To someone who is...receptive, like me, it kind of yells out that you want to see that special someone," Dream Clown summed up. Almost absently, she continued, "Kinda' how I look when I'm thinking about my moms."
"Moms?" Bumblebee asked, her question referring to the plural.
"Ops," Dream Clown said, obviously having said something she wasn't supposed to.
"Spill," Bumblebee ordered.
"I guess I wasn't completely honest about my background, but it was the truth, albeit an edited version," Dream Clown conceded.
"You don't really have to tell the others, and I'm not saying you have to tell me either, but since I am your leader...if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm free," Bumblebee hinted and moved to leave. A hand pulled her back.
"I'll tell you my past, everything, but we need to go somewhere private," Dream Clown said, resigned.
A minute later, the two girls were sitting on the bed in Dream Clown's room.
"So," Bumblebee prompted.
Dream Clown sighed, "Just so long as you realize that I'm still the same person you knew before I told you." Without stopping, Dream Clown continued," I was telling the truth about my dad before, I never knew him, but my 'real' mother did. They were...partners...in crime." Bumblebee raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. "You probably know them...Harley Quinn and The Joker." THAT admission brought the expected response. "YOU'RE whose daughter!"
After a moment, Bumblebee had calmed enough to continue the story, "So, anyway, from what I can gather, my dad wasn't that nice to my mom, I believe the exact terminology my other mom used to describe him was: "one sick fuck." Well, when my other mom saw how The Joker was treating Harley she made sure that he didn't have enough whole bones left to move with. Because I know you're wondering, my other mom is Poison Ivy."
The second unavoidable outburst came at that statement. "Wait one minute, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are GAY!" Bumblebee screamed.
Dream Clown sighed in ascension, moving on to another part of her story. "I kinda' got tired of the whole 'on the run' thing and I wanted to try living life on the other side of the law. That pretty much brings us to where we are now. I like it here and I'm not really planning on backstabbing you guys, so I'd like to stay. Please?"
Even though Dream Clown's facial expressions were non-existent due to her choice of costume, Bumblebee knew a plea when she heard it.
"I couldn't exactly kick you off the team after the job you pulled on Dr. Light, just take my advice and mix family and your responsibilities to the team; it will make you make coaches you don't want to make," Bumblebee advised.
"Thank you, O mighty leader," Dream Clown said appreciatively.
"Hey, what did you mean when you said 'Receptive?'" Bumblebee asked, moving out the door and along the hall with her.
"I'm kind of like a receiver and a transmitter. I can turn of the transmitter, but the receiver sometimes stays on, and I get insight to some people's emotions," she explained as she poured some milk.
"What do you pick up from Aqua lad and Speedy?" Bumblebee asked interestedly.
"I don't try to listen," Dream Clown said quietly," but I get a really happy vibe from them. Like they're both on cloud nine."
Bumblebee was about to say something, but the alarm went off, alerting them to an emergency.
In another part of the nation another Teen Titan was lost, very lost, and that titan was, disturbingly enough, Raven. Trying to make her way to the home of Kim Possible, Raven took the infamous left turn at Albuquerque. As a result, she was pretty sure that she was somewhere near Florida.
The person who she was seeking wasn't even home at the moment, though. Kim Possible, not matter how normal in appearance, saved the world on an almost daily basis. She was currently working on doing so once again. Or, sorta'...
"Remind me never to give Ron the day off ever again," Kim thought to herself as she hung, chained from the wall, in DN Amy's lair. In a not so original move, Drakken and Amy had teemed up. This meant she had to deal with mutant beasts and...Shego. The beasts had been no problem, but Shego, well, Shego had deviated from her normal tactics of beating her into submission. A blush the color of her hair stained her cheeks as she remembered the battle.
Kim had, in her subtle way, destroyed the entirety of Amy's forces and burst through the large door to the villain's chambers. Shego had been waiting.
A few well-placed kicks and Kim was on the defensive. They had taken the fight away from Drakken, and because of his lack of security cameras, he hadn't even noticed that the quarrel had moved to the storage bay.
Shego cornered her in an isle between two long piles of boxes. The raven-haired girl had, in an attempt to restrain Kim, grabbed her wrists, pinning them above her head.
Kim's eyes widened as she realized the position she was in.
Shego was almost shocked to find she enjoying the power that she now held over the redhead. Almost. Shifting the grip of Kim's wrists to her left hand and ran her left hand along Kin's face. A shiver ran up the cheerleader's spine at that touch; it sparked something. Something very deep, and...Warm? It was slightly familiar, but strange at the same time.
For what she realized must have been the first time, Kim looked into Shego's eyes. Her own eyes. Deep green that reflected that one feeling that filled both of their minds. Shego's eyes gave Kim the knowledge she so desperately craved. That glint...
Lust. Want. Need.
Shego knew it too. Kim's last rational thought passed out of mind as their lips met. Shego had been slowly closing the distance between them and the inevitable had finally happened. 'She tastes sweet,' Shego thought as she deepened the kiss. It had started slow and soft, but now it was war. A battle for dominance not unlike the one they were recently fighting. Shego had the dominant position, but Kim wasn't about to give up.
They both finally pulled away, completely breathless.
"Why," Kim breathed.
"Because we both want it," Shego smirked. Another kiss followed, this time more fiery. When they pulled away, Kim was about to say something, but Drakken interrupted them.
"Good work Shego, you caught Kim Possible!"
That pretty much brought them to where they are now. Kim Possible hung, chained from a wall, not able to do anything but think, that and look at Shego.
Had it been a trick? Some kind of plan? It didn't feel like one, Kim thought drearily. That and Shego actually looked like she didn't want to see Kim up there for once.
"So, Kim Possible, I bet you'd like to know what I've planned for you, eh?" Drakken said, savoring it.
"Not really. I would think that you're just going to put me in some nearly impossible situation and let me to my doom. Then I would escape and knock you down a notch or two," The redhead sighed.
Drakken's smirk widened. "Actually, Miss Amy is going to use you as a test subject and if she happens to make a loyal servant out of you, then Shego will have a partner."
"WHAT?" Shego all but screamed. "That was not in the plan Doc., what gives?"
"Do you object, Shego?" Drakken asked almost non-chalantly.
"Damn right I do!" Shego cried, her powers rising to her command.
"Oh well, I had hoped to spare you this pain, Shego, but you always have been a little less loyal than I'd have liked," Drakken said and pressed a button. Two very large metal arms came from the wall and grabbed Shego's hands. Though vicious, Shego did very little damage to the claws. Even her plasma-powered assault failed to breach the metal arms.
Needless to say, Shego was soon hauled up beside the teen-hero, while thrashing like a tornado.
"Don't worry Shego, a little operation and you'll be free to serve Dr. Drakken," Amy taunted.
Shego stopped thrashing violently and grew disturbingly still. "Drakken," she said in a quiet, but deadly voice that would make any sane person fear for their life," when I get out of this, and I will, you are going to wish for a far quicker, and much less painful death."
Obviously Drakken was less than sane, taking the threat in stride.
Amy just smiled and operated two robotic arms to retrieve blood samples from the two, less-than-willing volunteers.
"We'll be back in just one little second you two, so just sit tight!" The two evil geniuses proceeded to leave the room, because, as luck, and a timely plot twist, would have it, the gene-testing equipment were in a different room.
"I'll kill him, I WILL kill him," Shego fumed.
"Not to put a damper on your psychotic yammering, but can we get out of here first?" Kim interjected.
"No way, I stole these from Dr. Dementor, they were designed to hold something the strength of an elephant and they have a thin layer of nanomachines. You know how effective my powers are against those."
"Okay then, since there's no hope of escape until Drakken screws something up, I think we should have a civil conversation."
"What about? How to most effectively dismember Drakken?"
"No I was thinking about the whole shift from you wanting to kill me to wanting to sleep with me?"
Shego rolled her eyes. "If you must know, I'm a lesbian and I've always thought you were cute. There was just never a good opportunity to, well, you know."
"Although this is a slightly disturbing concept, it does explain the way you look at me during a lot of our fights..."
"Newsflash Kimmie, you returned a lot of those looks," Shego sneered.
With a blush, Kim managed," I guess I did. In all fairness, I can't say I don't find you UNattractive. By the way, why do you call me 'Kimmie,' only my mom and dad do that besides you."
"Am I not allowed to have a pet name for a rival that I secretly find really hot?"
"I'm not answering that. So, assuming we get out of this alive, you, I don't know, wanna' go out or something?"
"As in a date? I guess that would be fun."
"This is going to complicate my saving the world, isn't it?"
"Actually I think I'll go freelance for a while. Drakken paid well, but stealing for myself is so much more rewarding."
"Why do you like stealing, Shego. You're constantly on the run from the law. I don't see the point in it."
Shego snorted. "Yes you do, Kimmie, you just don't want to admit it. It's part of what makes people who they are. No one wants to say that the other side has a valid viewpoint, except in some cases, and so wars are fought, and people die."
"You're getting a little deep there, Shego," Kim warned.
Shego suddenly smiled. "Hey, Kimmie, you wanna come with me on one of my 'errands,' you never know, you might like it."
"I'll help you steal something the day you help me save the world," Kim replied evenly.
"Fair enough. Okay, I'm out of stuff to talk about, how about you?"
"Me too, what's taking them so long?" Kim sighed.
A long silence seemed to stretch out, neither knowing what to say.
"You and the buffoon ever screw?" Shego asked off-handedly.
Kim literally choked on her answer. "No! Ron and I are just friends, that would be like you and Drakken sleeping to gather."
"Shego repressed a shudder. "I promise to never bring this up again if you do."
Before the conversation could go down any more wrong turns, the door to the lab opened and a satisfied looking Drakken rolled out a large laser set up.
"I hereby present the Gene-Canon!" Drakken said smilingly.
"Okay, so what's it do?" Shego asked.
Amy saved Dr. Drakken the trouble of asking her to answer the question for him. "It is designed to sever DNA strands and modify them according to the whims of the operator or you can turn recessive genes on and dominant ones off. Quite a fun toy really."
"Out of pure, morbid, curiosity, what do you plan on turning us into?" Kim asked. This was really a stall question. If she could get the not-so-good-Doctor into a monologue, then Ron, if he knew she was in trouble, could have a little more time to get here.
"Actually, Kim, we don't need to turn you into anything. Both you and Shego have some very interesting recessive genes. Not at all what normal humans should have." Amy commented.
"But Shego and I, for the most part, are normal humans," Kim argued.
"That's true, but your genes go about making you in a different way than most people. You see, when most peoples DNA tells the body how to build it does so in Chromosomes. These are made up by to genes. A dominant and recessive, or what you become and what you don't. Your chromosomes are made up of three genes. A dominant and two recessives. One of the recessives was your normal opposite of the dominant, but the second was...well, unusual is the best way to put it."
"Meaning?" Shego prompted.
"Meaning, what we're going to do is turn on some of those genes. I'd like to say this isn't going to hurt, but, well you know I'd be lying," Drakken laughed.
"You cock-sucking asshole! I'll kill you, Damn IT!" Shego cried, pulling at her chains fruitlessly.
"Now would be a good time Ron," Kim whispered to herself as Drakken pushed the ray into position.
"If you don't survive Kim Possible, it was nice having you as a foe," Dakken said as he pressed the activation switch.
Mrs. Dr. Possible gasped as she felt the plate slip through her fingers and land on the floor with a shatter.
"I'm okay, Honey," she said as Mr. Dr. Possible moved to aid her. She slowly squatted down and started to pick up the shattered remnants. "And this was the plate Kim made for us in art class too," she mourned. The doorbell cut through her thoughts as she laid the shards on the counter.
"We'll get it!" came the dual voices. Jim and Tim. She really hoped that they didn't scare whoever it was away.
Jim and Tim opened the door, expecting a door-to-door salesman. What they weren't expecting was a very dark, wraith-like woman standing in their doorway.
"Wow," Tim breathed.
"Yeah cool," Jim agreed.
The figure, though they couldn't see the upper portions of her face, smiled appreciatively. "Hello, is your mom or dad home?" Raven asked politely.
"Mom!" there's someone really cool here to see you!" They cried and ran off. If the woman in the door way wasn't here to talk to them then it wasn't there concern really.
Mrs. Dr. Possible stepped into the entryway and blinked. "I'm sorry, but if you're one of Kim's villain friends then she's not here fight now."
Raven resisted the urge to laugh. Her outfit was dark, but a villain? "Actually Mrs. Possible, or do you prefer Dr., I came here to talk to you, if you have the time?"
"Mrs. is fine and I have a little time before I have to get dinner started. Follow me into the dinning room," so said the doctor led the way deeper into the house. Raven followed and shut the door in her wake.
"So, can I get you something? Water, milk?" The Dr. asked politely.
"Tea would be nice." Mrs. Possible put a kettle of water onto the burner and motioned for her to sit down.
"Are you one of Kim's friends from school then?"
"No, I really came here to talk to you about a different member of your family."
The elder of the two women's brows furrowed. "If this is about Jim and Tim blowing something up, then..."
"I'm sorry. Maybe I should introduce myself first. My name is Raven I'm a Teen Titan. We are a group of teenage superheroes who protect Jump City. We recently had a new addition to the team. I had to do considerable searching for this file but.." Raven slipped a vanilla folder from her cloak and handed it to the doctor.
Mrs. Possible took the folder and slowly opened it. She gasped quite loudly when it was opened. Raven knew what she was seeing. It was a picture of her sister, her brother-in-law, and Jinx. Tears filled her eyes as she look through the rest of the papers. Raven saw a tissue box and eased it within reach of the crying woman.
After allowing her the time to dry her tears, Raven spoke. "Her name, or at least the one she goes by, is Jinx. I felt that you should know she is alive, since she is a part of your family."
"Raven your are, no doubt, very giving, but why? You wouldn't come all this way for just a teammate. It's possible, but doubtful."
Raven sighed and lowered her hood. "Mrs. Possible, how are you at accepting...'alternative lifestyles?'" Raven looked down at her feet. She didn't meet the older woman's gaze.
Mrs. Possible saw the obvious point to the question. She carefully asked," How do you feel about my niece, Raven?"
The answer took Raven little to no time to compile. "She's more important to me than the air I breathe. Dearer to me than my own life. I lack the words to really describe what she is to me. She is warmth, acceptance, and light in a world of darkness. I know this all sounds cliché but believe me I do love her, with all my heart and soul and would never let anyone hurt her."
Mrs. Possible got up wordlessly and wrapped her arms around Raven's neck. Raven tensed, not really knowing what to do. She knew what she'd so with Jinx, but...
She ended up being saved the trouble by a whistling kettle.
"Tell me about my niece, Raven. I want to know everything." Mrs. Possible requested.
The Titan's East group was at the scene of the break in.
"So, who's it this time?" Speedy asked.
"The authorities said something about a former hive member," Aqua lad supplied.
Taking the que supplied by some all-knowing entity, a figure strode into the light of the museum they were in.
"Hello...students," the sneering voice of Brother Blood called out.
Several shocked faces and one unimpressed one.
"Who's this loser?" Dream Clown asked. The resulting situation would have been funny if the rest of the titans hadn't know how deadly the man in front of them could be.
"Loser! Loser! You have no idea who you're talking to!" Blood exclaimed, his eyes lighting up as he threw a rather large piece of stairway at them. As they scattered, Blood sought out Dream Clown with a vengeance, and tackled her to the ground. Blood roughly pushed her against a wall; "You will be a nice addition to my class once I give you a 'discipline' lesson." The ensuing lesson would have happened if a blur hadn't knocked Blood back a few steps.
"Muchas Gracias," Dream Clown said, the to Spanish superheroes help her up.
"De nada," they assured her, both returning to the fray as Speedy shot an arrow at Blood.
Blood kept the combat close as the battle went on. It prevented Speedy from using his arrows and vastly limited Bumblebee from using her Cestus. Blood made short work of both Mas and Menos and Aqua lad soon joined them. Using what she knew of Speedy's technique, Dream Clown was able to weave in and out of his moves with Bumblebee, and sink a few light punches that obviously had no effect.
Speedy and Bumblebee were both swatted out of the battle soon after, leaving only Blood and Dream Clown.
"Okay, I take it back, you're not a loser, just a really evil asshole," Dream Clown smirked.
"And you my dear are a very troublesome student, but you pale in comparison to Cyborg. To you I am more than a god; you cannot even begin to compare with me. I haven't even seen one exceptional ability of yours." Blood sneered at the young warrior.
"My abilities are none of your concern, but if you must know, then I'll be happy to give you a DEMONSTRATION!" As Dream Clown yelled her declaration aloud a white light burst forth from her eyes, blinding Brother Blood. When the deranged teacher opened his eyes the scenery had undergone a definite change.
They were in a cave. A deep, dark, cave. "How are you doing this?" Brother Blood asked.
"Can't see, can you?" Dream Clown asked in return. Blood gave an angry growl as he felt a blow connect solidly with the back of his head.
"I may not be able to see you, but I can feel your thoughts," Blood snarled as he wrapped his own mind around the teens.
"You can't fight me..." Blood taunted as he tunneled deeper into the girl's mind.
Pain.
There were other words for it: agony, torture, but this went deeper than mere words, as all true sensations do. One may wonder why human speech developed at all if it was just created to hamper our communicative abilities. But I digress...
Pain was the one thing that both Shego and Kim Possible thought they could handle with relative ease. It was a constant for both of their lines of work. Broken bones. Bruises. Sprains and burns, these were all normal and they had recovered from each in their own time.
The best way to describe what the laser felt like when it hit them would be to imagine a white-hot needle being run through your eye. Take that pain, multiply it by one billion, and take it to every square inch of your skin, muscle, and bone. After the first few seconds of unbelievable agony, Kim realized with a sense of detachment that she had been screaming. She vaguely heard Shego's voice raised in a like scream.
After two full minutes the complete loss of sensation due to the searing pain was setting in, so a kind of thought was possible.
"I wonder what this ray is going to turn me into?" Kim pondered. 'Skin tearing...back burning.'
The oddest sensations were taking hold now. It felt as if her skin was starting to flake off, like she was shedding or something. She managed to open her eyes for a second, but all she could see was the gloating face of Drakken. That one image made her see red, figuratively speaking. That was weird in and of itself. Drakken had irritated her. Made her mad, maybe, but never actually gotten her to the point of blind, homicidal rage. This was beyond even that though. It was like she was seeing for the first time. Instincts were awakening that she never knew existed. They told her to rip his throat out and chow down on his heart. Another odd thing in the list of things that happened today was that Kim didn't actually find that thought disturbing, stomach turning, or vomit inducing. The thought of her hands, bathed in blood, running them along Shego's body, letting the raw red liquid cover them...Kim felt a shiver run through her mind. That image was arousing, damn it! Why?
The answer to the question escaped her as the pain intensified three-fold. She was pretty sure the skin on her back had ripped open for some reason and there was an intense burning sensation along her arms, legs, and inside her body. It was as if she was being burned alive!
Drakken and Amy watched in a kind of sadistic glee as Kim and Shego screamed. The 'treatment' had been going on for a good ten minutes now and it was almost done. It was almost a shame their bodies couldn't be seen in the tense light of the laser. He wanted to know what hideous monster Kim Possible would turn into. The timer finally went off, and with it the ray. What Drakken saw next scared and delighted him at the same time.
Two sets of green eyes snapped open. The lack of conscious thought behind them finally drove the mistake he had made home. He should have turned them into mind slaves beforehand. The two...devils, that was the only word for them he had right now, snapped their chains like straw. They dropped to the floor, landing on all fours in a kind of crouch.
Sadly Drakken and Amy were already in an escape capsule, launching themselves into a suborbital path to another of Drakken's many lairs.
That only left A transformed Kim and Shego to wreak havoc among the many beasts that Amy left behind.