Disclaimer: I like Justice League Unlimited. Own it? No.

Connections

Chapter Two: Gathering Information

Usually, he was a patient man. He was an understanding man. To be a superhero, it was pretty much a requirement of the job to have that kind of temperament. To have an attitude otherwise would be a mistake. At least, that is what he had gathered from his experience training with the Q foundation. But there was only so much that Aztek could take. He interrupted his scan cycle and whirled on his heel to face the Flash.

"Could you please stop tapping your foot?"

The scarlet speedster's rapidly tapping foot froze, and he scowled at the golden clad superhero. "Fine," he mumbled, turning and walking away.

With a shake of his head, Aztek got back to work, reinitiating his scan. Shayera followed Wally to where he now stood, his arms folded and his head tilted up to the sky. She could tell that his eyes were closed beneath his mask from experience; he only ever did so when something was truly bothering him. The first time she had seen him like this was when they were flung back in time to World War Two.

"Flash?"

He simply ignored her at first, and she presumed he was staring up at the sky.

"Flash? Are you okay?"

After waving a hand in front of his face, she realised his eyes were closed. On closer inspection, he was taking deep breaths through his nose and letting them out from his mouth, as if he were trying to keep himself calm.

"Something wrong?"

At first she thought he was still angry at her having left John, but he seemed more rattled than angry.

"Flash!"

His head whipped to look at her with such speed and annoyance she was taken aback.

"What? What is it? What do you want?"

"I just wanted to know if you were all right."

"I'm fine."

"No you're not. And I don't want you messing up out there because you were too busy thinking about stuff in here," she said, knocking on his head. "Now what's bothering you?"

"That!" he said, pointing at the makeshift medical tent. "Before now, this was all stuff I read about and watched movies about. And now I'm here, and… I don't…"

"You've never seen war before." Flash shook his head, and she laid a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "I know it's difficult the first time, but you'll just have to work through it."

He was silent for a moment, and his next words were little more than a mumble. "They brought this guy in a few minutes ago… he was screaming and screaming… I've never heard someone screaming like that. I've seen some pretty nasty stuff, but… I just… there was so much blood… I didn't even know there was that much blood in the human body, you know?" he said, letting out a desperate chuckle.

Shayera was at a loss for words. She'd seen this kind of reaction before, but never in someone she cared about.

It hurt.

"You know what the worst part is?" he asked, a trace of bitterness in his voice that she had never heard before.

She shook her head dumbly.

"When we first arrived, the only thing I could think about was how cool it was to be here."

He tilted his head back up to the sky, and Shayera still couldn't think of anything to say. Believing that he would get better as time went on, she had left him alone. When the time came to get back to work, he was back to his old self, as if the conversation between them had never happened.

But it had, and Shayera had seen him in a completely different light from that day on. It was probably what prompted their friendship to blossom further like it did. And here she was, performing the same task again for her long time friend. She lay a hand on his shoulder and felt him relax.

"I hope that's you, Shayera, because Aztek and I aren't that close."

She smiled. At least he was joking again. That meant it couldn't be too serious.

"I don't know… he could be hiding some latent attraction to you."

He turned with a smile on his face, though his voice still had a more sombre tone to it. "How long does it take him to find this stuff, anyway?"

"It's bound to take him awhile, Wally; it has been a few hours, after all."

"I guess," he mumbled, throwing a troubled frown in Aztek's direction. Shayera decided not to bring up the fact that it was Wally's fault that they took so long to call the Watchtower for assistance. Instead of going to the Metro Tower, Wally had decided to search the twin cities relentlessly for some trace of the girl whose name she had found out was Jinx. It had taken her one of those three hours to find him and get just that much out of him.

"You're lucky he even came down here at all to check the place out; he was sleeping when we called."

Although the white lenses of his mask hid the action well, Shayera knew that Wally was rolling his eyes. "I know, I know… I'll say sorry later." He paused. "But only if he finds something," he said, a slightly mischievous grin on his face.

"Well, from what you said she was only in the alleyway for a few seconds. He might not find anything."

"Found something."

She turned with a frown to look at Aztec, and she could practically feel Wally's triumphant grin on the back of her head. However, Flash's tone of voice indicated otherwise.

"What is it?"

The confused frown was apparent beneath Aztek's golden helmet. "A strange energy signature. Pretty weak, but it was there."

"What could have caused it? Energy discharge?" Shayera asked, a red eyebrow raised.

"No; they have a very distinct signature, and this isn't it. This looks more like a transmission waveform."

Wally was suddenly stood next to her. "You mean like mind control?"

The gold clad superhero nodded. "It's possible. I'll have to run it through the Watchtower computer and check it against all known waveforms. I'll get back to you on it."

Pushing two fingers against the communicator in his ear, Aztec looked at the two expectantly. "If you two want to come up and wait, that's fine. It'll take a few hours, though."

Shayera waited for the smart comment from Wally, but his only response was a terse nod. Looking at her young friend in surprise, she also nodded.

"Watchtower. Three for pickup."

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The beard was itching again. He resisted the urge to scratch, and it took all of his military training to stop himself. Why did he get this thing in the first place, anyway?

Oh, that's right.

Mari suggested it. John Stewart, the Green Lantern designated to Sector 2814, scowled as he walked the corridors of the Watchtower. Several League members and employees seemed ready to wave greetings to him until they saw his knotted brow, and thought better of it. John would normally have felt slightly guilty for being so damn rude, but at the moment, he was finding it difficult to care. His mind was dominated with thoughts of two women. Two women who shouldn't be causing him this much trouble. He was with Mari, not Shayera. And Shayera was with that Carter Hall. Or was she? Batman had never told him about what had happened in Egypt, and he hadn't felt completely comfortable talking to Shayera about it.

He sighed as he reached the elevator and pushed the button. Hopefully some disaster would arise soon and distract him from his problems. The doors opened, revealing Wally and Shayera. Silently cursing his luck, he stepped into the elevator and the doors shut behind him and they resumed on their way.

"Um… hi."

"Hey," Shayera offered. John looked at his speedster friend curiously, wondering what had him so downcast. The elevator came to a stop, and Shayera awkwardly made her way past him.

"Tell me when you get the results, all right?"

Wally just nodded. He waited for the doors to close before turning to the Fastest Man Alive.

"Results? What's she talking about?"

Wally shrugged. "It's nothing."

John wasn't sure how to respond to that. He wasn't used to Wally being so curt.

"O…kay."

They both stood in an uncomfortable silence, the hum of the elevator dragging it out even longer.

"So… you talked to Shayera yet?"

John's eyes thinned. "Why?"

"No reason. I was just wondering."

"Wally…" the Lantern warned, turning his entire body towards the scarlet speedster. Flash raised his hands defensively.

"It's nothing!"

"I swear, if you're planning something-"

"I'm not planning anything."

John's green eyes widened. "You mean Shayera's-?"

"It's nothing, I swear!" he replied quickly, some of the old Flash liveliness in his voice.

The elevator came to a halt, and Wally stepped out. "See you later GL," a hint of smugness penetrating his voice.

As the doors closed, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on.

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"Anything?"

Aztek sighed. "Not yet, sorry." He turned to face her. "Did this have anything to do with magic, by any chance?"

The red headed Thanagarian shrugged. "Could be. Her name's Jinx, so I suppose it's possible. Why?"

"There was a lot of background interference in the area, and from my experience, that's usually a result of magic messing around with science."

Smiling wryly, she nodded. "I take it you don't like magic?"

"Hate it. You?"

"It has its uses," she said, gesturing to her mace.

"I see…" he said through a yawn, and glanced over at the monitor. "Well, I'm going to leave this to search for any matches. I need to catch up on my sleep."

"Again, sorry about that."

He waved a dismissive hand. "Not a problem. Good night. Or is that good morning? Gah… I don't even want to think about it."

She smiled apologetically and turned to the computer. There were literally thousands of different waveforms in the database, each one used by a different criminal organisation or supervillain. Shayera's thoughts drifted to Wally yet again. She was truly surprised by the drastic change him. He was almost a completely different superhero. He seemed more mature, more serious… more Superman, to put it simply. But of course, her mind was more preoccupied with the ever present question:

Who is Jinx?

She sat down at the computer next to the one performing the search and got to work, initiating a scan for anything with the words 'Jinx' and 'Flash'. Finding nothing except some tabloid headlines about Wally tripping over, thereby being 'jinxed', she began thinking about Jinx in more detail.

He used to be a member of the Teen Titans… could he have met her then?

She searched for 'Titans' and 'Jinx', and still came up with little.

"Screw it," she mumbled, and simply typed in 'Jinx'. A picture of a pale girl with pink hair appeared on the screen, and Shayera smiled.

"Bingo."

Her smile disappeared as she saw that she was deceased, at least according to the most recent reports. Shayera scrolled down, reading on about her involvement with the Hive, and how they had clashed with the Teen Titans on various occasions, usually working for some other benefactor when they did. Then during one final battle with the Titans, she was apparently killed. It didn't say how, where, or even when, simply that she had died. Shayera frowned and sighed. Her eyes were telling her one thing, but her brain and instincts were telling her something very different.

"Interesting reading?"

The chair squeaked as she turned to face John Stewart.

"Very," she said, turning back to the monitor.

"'Jinx'? Who's that?"

"That's what I want to know," she said, resting her head on her hand as she blew one of the red bangs from her face. John smiled slightly.

"I see you still haven't cut them off."

"And I see you still haven't gotten rid of this," she said, pointing a finger at his beard. "Doesn't it itch?"

"No," he said, and they both smiled at the familiarity of this kind of discussion. After a brief silence, John nodded towards the pale skinned teenager on the screen. "So… why are you looking up this 'Jinx' girl?"

"Because she is what's got Flash running up the walls. No pun intended."

"Old girlfriend?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.

She shrugged and sighed. "I don't know. He's not exactly being forthcoming. You know how hard it is to get him to talk about his Kid Flash days under normal conditions, so…"

The Lantern frowned and nodded. "And I bet the more you ask him about it, the more defensive he gets."

"You see my problem. And here's the kicker." She pointed to the monitor. "She's supposed to be dead."

"Aren't all good villains?"

"I'm serious."

John leaned forward to look at the monitor and his frown deepened. "Maybe I should talk to him."

Now it was Shayera's turn to frown. "Why would that make a difference?"

He almost jumped back from the sudden change in tone. Almost. "I don't know… maybe he'd feel more, uh… comfortable…"

"Sharing with a man like yourself?"

John's frown loosened slightly. "Well, that is oneaspect you lack in spades."

They shared another comfortable silence before John headed for the door. "I'll go and talk to him. It might not make a difference, but it's worth a shot."

"Don't tell him we've been snooping, all right? That'll just make him worse."

"What do you mean, 'we'?"

"Just shut up and go play Dr Phil, all right?"

With a grin on his face, John Stewart left the room. Maybe she was planning something, after all.

Shayera grinned as John left the room. Maybe he was planning something, after all.

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There was nothing that could make him feel better more than a huge pile of burgers. But even that was doing little to take his mind off of Jinx. There were so many questions in his head he didn't know what to do with them. Had he been lied to? Had she actually died that day? Or was this someone else just trying to mess with him? He didn't know. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. The thought occurred to him that it could perhaps be in his best interest to let this go if Aztek didn't find anything. The Kid Flash part of his brain disagreed.

What if she's in trouble? You're just going to leave her?

Of course, Wally already knew the answer to that question. The chair beside him made a scraping noise as John Stewart pulled it back.

"Hey."

The scarlet speedster gave him a nod, stuffing another burger into his mouth. He already knew why John was here, but he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. He could be there to talk about bowling or something. Looking down, he noticed that John didn't even have a tray for his food.

"What's up?" he asked, trying his best not to let any burger crumbs fly from his mouth.

"Shayera says that-"

Wally smiled. "Oh, so you two are talking now, huh? I knew you'd-"

"Flash, that's not why-"

"I mean, that's why I started to talk to you two about-"

"Flash! That's not what I'm talking about!"

Wally stopped talking and sighed. "Yeah, I know. You want to talk about Jinx, right?"

"I don't see why you can't just tell us why it's bothering you so much."

"Because it's personal and I don't want to talk about it."

John head moved back slightly, surprised at the curtness of the speedster's response. He leaned forward and lowered his voice. "We're your friends, Wally. We just want to help you out."

Flash took another bite of his burger. "Then stop asking me."

He seemed ready to take another bite, but then thought better of it, half heartedly dropping it on the tray. After pushing back his chair and standing, he picked up the tray and left. John sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. The chair where Wally was sat suddenly moved forward, and John looked up quickly, hoping that Flash had come back, but was greeted with the sight of the Dark Knight.

"What was that about?" he said, taking a sip of his drink.

"Nothing."

"Nothing. Right."

He looked up at the cloaked billionaire and scowled. "That's right, nothing."

"I hear something went wrong during his mission with Shayera."

The Green Lantern sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "That's basically right. Flash ran into an old acquaintance; some girl called Jinx."

Batman stopped eating his meal and looked up at John. "Jinx?"

"Yeah. Why? You know her?"

He nodded silently. "Worked for the Hive Academy from a young age. Fought the Titans on more than a few occasions. If memory serves, she's dead."

"Supposed to be dead; these things never are concrete with our line of work." He raised a dark eyebrow. "How do you know so much about her, anyway?"

"I had a… vested interest in the Titans during their earlier days."

The speaker system crackled to life.

"Flash, Shayera Hol, this is Aztek. Please report to the command center; your scans are done."

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Wally West turned to see John entering the room, Bruce following. He briefly wondered why Bruce was here at all, but he pushed it aside. He was the one person that Wally knew wouldn't pry into his business, anyway. Probably because he already knew, though Flash wasn't sure of it. He just assumed that Batman always had one eye on everything at all times.

"Well?" he asked Aztek, who was sat at the computer diligently typing away. He pushed a button, and the results of the scan came up on the screen.

"Sorry Flash. I couldn't find anything in the League database that's anywhere near a match."

Wally's shoulders sank slightly, and Shayera put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Batman leaned over Aztek's shoulder, looking at the monitor.

"Bring up the waveform signature."

Aztek looked up at who was asking and quickly turned back to the monitor, bringing up the requested data. Batman's eyes thinned into white slits. John tilted his head to the side.

"What? You recognise it?"

Bruce nodded and began tapping away at another computer screen as he spoke. "It's a waveform produced by mind control devices that were invented by a man named Jervis Tetch." He finished typing and pushed one final key, bringing up a profile picture on the monitor.

Wally raised an eyebrow incredulously. The way he was dressed, he almost looked like…

"Otherwise known as the Mad Hatter."

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(A/N: And there's chapter two for y'all. Not much to say here, except review!)