Hey! I'm so glad everyone seems to be liking the story so far. Thanks for all the great reviews. I hope you keep reading and enjoying the story :P
—Disorderly Conduct: Chapter Three—
Jinx woke up to the smell of an unused room. She sat up and instinctively looked to her left, where her alarm clock sat in her bedroom at school. Of course there was nothing there, not even a bedside table for anything to sit on. She groaned and, stretching, made her way to the window, where she peered outside. Judging by the light, it was probably about eight in the morning.
After washing her face and brushing her teeth in the bathroom, she padded to the kitchen, feeling more awake. She stopped dead when she turned the corner and saw Raven sitting at the table, sipping tea from a mug, and Cyborg standing near the stove.
"Oh, hey, I didn't know you guys would be here," Jinx blurted out. She had been hoping to raid the Titans' fridge in peace.
"We live here," Raven said, raising an eyebrow. Cyborg chuckled.
"I meant, up! This early." Jinx frowned and sat at the table across from Raven.
"Mmm," the other girl said disinterestedly.
Jinx waited for someone to initiate a conversation, but Raven just sat there, and Cyborg began to whistle as he cooked a huge serving of scrambled eggs. Finally, she said, "So… where is everyone?"
"Aw, Robin's around here somewhere," Cyborg answered with a shrug. "Star'll get up soon. BB might show up around noon."
"Oh." After that, silence once again descended upon the three teenagers, except for Cyborg's whistling.
Five minutes later, Robin walked into the kitchen holding the newspaper. "Oh, Jinx, you're up," he said, nodding to her. "I think you'll want to see this." He laid the paper down in front of her. Cyborg came and loomed over her, and even Raven put down her tea and leaned over to see.
EX-CRIMINAL SAVES TITAN!
Pink-haired super teen joins the ranks of other Jump City heroes.
"What!" Jinx shrieked in horror. As if the article itself wasn't bad enough, somebody had pasted a huge picture of her smirking face across the front page.
Cyborg let out a low whistle. "Front page, huh?"
"How did they get my school picture?" Jinx cried. "That's… confidential HAEYP… it's such a bad picture!" She buried her face in her hands, praying that when she looked up, the newspaper would be gone. No such luck.
"Look on the bright side," Raven said. "They could have used a mug shot."
Jinx shot her a scathing glare. "Funny," she sneered.
Robin half smiled. "Cheer up, Jinx. Forget about the picture. If anything, you should be happy—now everyone knows you've reformed."
"Yeah, like, now you'll be able to walk around town without people running away and screaming," Cyborg suggested.
"Uh, I already walk around town, and nobody ever runs away," Jinx said miserably.
Cyborg patted her shoulder. "Have some eggs," he said. "They'll make you feel better." He put a large plateful down in front of her, effectively covering the article. "Come on, Jinx, I know you like eggs."
"Mrrf," she grumbled, but took a bite. "Delicious."
"I'm the best cook out of all of us," Cy said, puffing his chest out proudly.
Jinx couldn't resist being a little mean. "Yeah, you're pretty talented. Mechanics, cooking… stealth…"
Cyborg blushed, mumbled something she couldn't hear, and hurried back to the stove, where he busied himself with bacon. Jinx smiled to herself and ate her eggs. Cyborg was a good cook, and he was pretty cool. If he hadn't completely crushed her hopes and dreams for a normal relationship back at the HIVE, she might have considered dating him.
Starfire entered the kitchen a few minutes later, singing a song she'd heard on an oldies radio station. Robin smiled at her indulgently, but Jinx saw Raven grit her teeth and wait for the song to end. When it did, Starfire started in on another one. Raven fled to her room.
Jinx jumped up. "I'll be right back," she called to the others, and ran after Raven. "Hey, wait!"
Raven turned and frowned at her. "What? I'm going to my room."
"I know you can read minds or whatever," Jinx said, crossing her arms. "So what's up?"
"I don't read minds."
"What do you think I am, stupid? We've talked about your powers at school! I took an elective called 'Procedures and Strategies of the Teen Titans'!"
Raven raised her eyebrows. "The class didn't teach you much, or you'd know that I don't read minds in the way you're talking about. Just base emotions. Oh, and also, you wouldn't get your ass handed to you every time we fight."
"Well, you must know that I'm not the hero your friends seem to think I am," Jinx hissed. To her shock, Raven let out a short laugh. She had never seen Raven smile before, much less laugh. "What?"
"You don't pose a threat to us," Raven said. "If my friends want to be nice to you, that's their choice. I'll go along."
"I don't pose a threat?" Jinx's voice rose. "I don't pose a threat?"
"There's five of us and one of you," Raven said shortly. "Don't be an idiot. Your friends at the HIVE haven't come calling, trying to bust you out of this 'prison'. Or do they think you're spying on us? Your goal isn't to cause problems for us. Your intentions aren't even clear to you."
With that, she turned and walked the rest of the way down the hall, where she disappeared around a corner. Jinx stood baffled, her hands balled into fists, an expression of confused anger on her face. Footsteps sounded behind her, and she turned her head to see Beast Boy, sleepy-eyed and with tousled hair, scratching his chest and staring at her.
"What happened?"
Jinx sighed. "I have no idea."
--
Lunchtime at the tower was an interesting affair. Beast Boy and Cyborg argued, as was their wont, over the day's menu, Beast Boy finally sulking and agreeing to prepare his own tofu-licious meal after Cyborg was finished using the kitchen. Starfire's helpful suggestion that they all eat an authentic Tameranian meal was vetoed, to her dismay. Jinx finally got up the courage to read the newspaper article she'd been shown at breakfast, and couldn't help laughing.
"Hey, BB, this guy thinks you're unnatural," she said, referring to the would-be assassin who was now in police custody.
"I never thought I'd have anything in common with a criminal," Raven deadpanned, having emerged from her room a short time before. Beast Boy stuck his tongue out at her.
"I'll have you know, plenty of chicks are just dying to get a piece of me!"
"Beast Boy, shall we get Jinx to guard you at all times, from these… corpse chickens?" Starfire asked, sounding alarmed.
"No!" both teens cried, Beast Boy adding in a howl, "I don't need a bodyguard!"
"Jinx, not that we don't mind you wearing the extra clothes we gave you, but you should probably go shopping for your own soon. I doubt you want to sneak into the HIVE to get your old clothes," Robin said, attempting to distract Beast Boy, who was glaring down at the table.
"Yes, Terra's fashions look quite 'grooving' on you, but I am sure you prefer your own style," Starfire added. At Cyborg's loud snort, she looked questioningly at Robin. "Is that not correct?"
"Eh…" Robin looked like he was trying not to laugh. "It's 'groovy,' Star. Um… just out of curiosity, where did you… hear that word?"
"The Land of Television."
Beast Boy leaned over and hissed in Robin's ear, "I think she means TV Land."
"That's what I said!" Starfire declared.
"Hey," Jinx said, "sorry to interrupt, but who the hell is Terra?"
Immediately a silence fell over the Titans, who looked at each other, suddenly subdued. In Raven's case, the same as she always looked. Robin finally cleared his throat. "I forgot we never fought with you during that period," he said, and gave her a short explanation.
"Psh! I remember Slade," Jinx said afterwards, feeling embarrassed. "He wasn't… the coolest guy. He hired us once."
"Oh? What for?" Robin seemed suddenly interested.
"Uh… to defeat you?" Jinx said, tapping her index fingers together. "That was when we, you know, took over your tower."
There was a moment of silence, and then Robin said, "Well, that's in the past. Let's forget about it."
Jinx nodded quickly. "Yeah, and besides, when we failed, we not only got held back at the HIVE, but he nearly decapitated us, so don't feel bad."
Again, there was a silence.
"So," Jinx said, "anyone wanna go shopping with me?"
--
In the end, Beast Boy and Starfire came with Jinx to the mall. Starfire was apparently always up for a trip to the 'mall of shopping,' and Jinx suspected Beast Boy wanted to bask in the attention of all his worried fans.
The three were in the back of one of Jinx's favorite stores. She had already tried on a few things she liked, and, because the money she was spending was the Titan's, there was no doubt in her mind she would go home empty handed. Beast Boy was acting like his normal, annoying self, but Jinx noticed that back at the tower he had been quiet ever since Terra's name came up. Shoving a few outfits into Starfire's arms, she told the other girl to try them on. Once Starfire was locked away in the dressing room, Jinx rounded on Beast Boy.
"Hey," she said, "was that Terra your girlfriend?"
Beast Boy looked shocked, then angry. He stared at her for a minute, eyes narrowed, and then all the anger seemed to seep out of him. He sighed. "Not yet. I mean… no."
"I don't know if Cyborg told you this, but when he was at the HIVE, we were pretty good friends."
"Really," Beast Boy said disinterestedly.
"Yeah, we even went to a dance together. We really liked each other." She sighed. "At least, I really liked him. I guess maybe he was just getting information out of me. I cried when he left. Um, only for a minute, of course."
"Oh."
Jinx shrugged. "I know it's not the same thing, but I thought maybe you'd feel better knowing that you're not the only one who's been… betrayed. And by the way, if you tell Cyborg what I just told you, you'll find yourself becoming very… unlucky."
Despite himself, Beast Boy laughed. "Don't worry about it. But you're right, you know."
"Right about what?" Jinx said as Starfire burst out of the dressing room, giggling, "How do I look, friends?"
"It's not the same thing," he replied quietly.
--
That night, the Titans and Jinx gathered in the living room to watch a movie and pig out. Raven went to the kitchen to make herself tea. It was Cyborg's turn to choose the movie, and he gleefully popped Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines into the DVD player. There was a collective groan from the girls.
"Sorry, but if I had to sit through The Notebook last week, you're gonna have to deal with this," Cyborg said, not sounding sorry at all.
"Hey," Jinx spoke up, "how many floors is this tower?"
"Ten," Cyborg replied proudly.
"And you guys only have one TV? And one bathroom? Doesn't that seem kind of… weird?"
"But we have a state of the art training center!" Robin protested.
"And an infirmary that's better than any hospital," Beast Boy added.
"And a basketball court! On the roof!" Cyborg sounded personally offended.
"Sorry, but even at the HIVE we had more than one bathroom," Jinx sniffed, looking away. The Titans all stared at each other, looking bewildered.
Raven walked in carrying her mug of bedtime tea. While the rest of the Titans were still occupied with staring at each other, Jinx flicked a miniature hex toward Raven with her index finger. The tiny hex it the tea mug, which crumbled, spilling tea all over Raven's outfit and the floor. "Ah..!"
Beast Boy cackled. "Nice one, Rae!"
A black tendril of power shot out and smacked Beast Boy swiftly on the back of the head. Without a word, Raven turned and marched back into the kitchen, glaring down at the broken mug in her hands and dripping tea everywhere.
"Ohoho," Jinx giggled to herself. "Feeling threatened yet?"
--
Later that night, a yawning Jinx made her way down the hall toward her temporary room. Cyborg's movie had been completely stupid, so of course he, Beast Boy and Robin had loved it. Jinx had amused herself by listening to Starfire's running commentary on this movie… and what seemed like every other film the Titans had ever watched.
Just as she was about to slide open her door, a coil of black energy shot out of nowhere and slammed Jinx into the wall. It picked her up by the ankle and then dropped her without fanfare. Jinx lay stunned, trying to figure out if anything was broken. "Ow," she whimpered.
Raven stepped around the pink haired girl, smirking. "Goodnight, Jinx."
--
Woot. Next chapter… Jinx is contacted by the HIVE, and the Titans do their job. And any other stuff I make up as I'm writing it :D
I didn't mean for the Terra thing to get so involved. I had Jinx wear her old clothes in the first chapter and was maybe going to mention that they were Terra's, but it grew into a little bit more.
And, no, Raven and Jinx didn't have a smack down, fight-to-the-death thing. Sorry. ..