Theater Stakeout

Part 3

I crept silently through the woods, again in search of the mysterious scout. I needed more information; I had to know what I was up against.

It didn't take me long to find the clearing she had been in last night, no sign of her. I crept in carefully, looking for clues, or anything that might be of value, again, nothing.

I heard a twig snap behind me, and felt a tingle run the length of my spine, I reflexively hit the deck, to see a bizarre pink wave ripple over my head.

I rolled to my feet and faced the intruder.

It was definitely the scout; her features were now clearly illuminated by the moonlight.

She had a petite figure, was dressed in a black and purple jumpsuit, had pink U-shaped hair, and very unusual cat-slit pink eyes.

"Who the heck are you?" she demanded.

I rolled my eyes, "Just a Shadow, and you might be?" I smirked calmly.

She glared at me, "The name's Jinx darlin', remember it, it's the last name you'll ever hear."

Moving with surprising speed, she jumped at me, sending a platform shoe at my head.

I ducked the strike, counter-attacking with a heavy punch. Which she in turn blocked expertly, leaving my chest completely exposed. She giggled lightly, then slammed her palm into my chest throwing me backwards into a tree.

I shook my head to clear it, and looked up to see the bottom of a platform shoe flying at my head.

I ducked instantly, allowing her foot to hit the tree instead of me. Acting on pure reflex, I reached up and grabbed her ankle, then rotated my body and threw her over my shoulder.

Her eyes went wide as she flew through the air, straight into a different tree.

She hit the ground, rolled, and stood up to her feet…smiling?

"Wow, that actually hurt a little, this is almost gonna be as much fun as the last time I fought with the Titans."

So that's why I recognized the name Jinx, I'd read about her and the rest of HIVE in the towers archives. I dropped into a combat stance, "Come get it."

She took the invitation to fight in a very strange way, by jumping up off the tree behind her, and coming at my in a kick flip. I rolled to the side to dodge her strike, spinning around at the same time sweeping her legs out form under her.

Impossibly, she rolled the fall into a cartwheel, pivoted in midair, and kicked me in the ribs as I was standing up.

I staggered back a step from the impact, then twisted around quickly and drove my knee into the small of her back, she cried out as she was thrown at yet another tree.

Frantically she flipped her hands out and let loose a stream of pink waves at the tree, causing it to explode.

The force of it slowed her down enough to let her pivot around in mid air, kick off the tree and send a burst of the pink stuff at my feet.

I jumped back to avoid the burst, but the resultant explosion of dirt threw me backwards.

As I slid to a stop on all fours, I looked up to see a flash of pink, then a tree falling towards me. I instantly drew my sword and braced myself for impact.

BOOM, the tree hit the ground kicking up a cloud of dust, as Jinx stood up bearing a cheshire-cat grin.

A flash of metal split the dust and I charged out of it sword drawn back to strike.

Her smile instantly vanished as she jumped to the left, but let loose a yelp as the tip of my blade flashed past her eyes.

She quickly rolled to her feet and cupped a hand across her cheek to find a thin line of blood.

She snarled in rage held out her hands, glowing pink. With a flick of her wrists she released a full barrage of the pink ripples at me, the forest around us, and anything else that was within range of hitting me.

I hurdled some bolts, batted more away with my sword, all the while dodging or cutting through the avalanche of trees that kept falling towards me, and advancing on Jinx's position.

Quickly I had come inside blade range and attacked. She ducked my first swing, so I returned with a downward slash.

She sidestepped,

I slashed horizontally

She hurdled it, landed and threw a punch at my chest

I twisted around her punch, and planted my sword in the ground, using it as a pivot point to spin my entire body, feet first at her exposed side.

Somehow she managed to jump up into a side flip, trailing pink, that carried her over my attack, and she launched a platform shoe at my back.

I barely managed to get my sword out of the ground, and around in time to block the kick with its flat side.

She twirled back like a dancer, and flung another one of those annoying pink things at my feet, the ground exploded throwing me backwards as she followed through with a pink glowing fist.

I shifted my sword to my left hand and blocked wrist to wrist, immediately driving the butt of my sword at her ribs.

With a flicker of pink she launched herself into the air, performing a front-handspring over my shoulders, landed behind me and unleashed another bolt at my back.

The bolt passed through me, and struck a tree about a hundred feet in front of me.

I spun around blade drawn back, and only caught a glimpse of the surprise and confusion on her face before I slammed the flat of the blade into her side like a baseball bat with enough force to knock her through the air, through part of the forest, and into a clearing about a hundred yards away.

As I stepped into the clearing, sword at my side, she was just starting to try and get up.

When she did, she stood there for a moment, clutching her side; she blinked a few times, then dropped into an steady fighting position.

I smiled coldly, and walked towards her.

Another one of the pink bolts flew from her hands at my feet, I jumped back to avoid it as the ground where I had been standing exploded.

I rushed out of the spray of dirt in a full sprint, and attacked with dizzying speed, slashing and twirling my blade, creating a virtual wall of metal that left her with no choice but to back up.

Very quickly, I had driven her all the way back to a large lake that took up half the clearing.

My blade sang at her again, flat side first.

Trailing pink she leapt straight into the air, gripped my blade with her feet and twisted it so she ended up standing on the flat side.

The Cheshire grin came back as she winked at me, and spun a pink glowing kick into the side of my head.

The impact spun me around, stunning me momentarily, and knocking off my shades.

Jinx paused for a moment, looking at my glowing eyes, then stepped in with a fist to my side, and a kick to my other side.

I staggered back from the assault, as she drove her knee into my stomach, knocking all the air from my lungs.

She finished her attack by again performing a front-handspring over my shoulders, but this time, she didn't let go.

Using the momentum from her flip, she threw me over herself, out over the lake.

In mid-flight I lost hold of my sword. it plunged into the water, and I followed it in.

Jinx's eyes narrowed and her wrists shone pink. She cut loose a huge barrage of pink into the water, creating massive explosions.

The pink witch stood still for ten minutes after all the bubbling had stopped, nothing moved. "So long Bright-eyes."

She slumped to the ground roughly, and cupped a hand over her bleeding cheek, "Oww." She looked back at the water, "Oh well, one less potential problem for tonight."

She looked back down at her side where I had clubbed her, and instead, saw a pair of sleek black sunglasses resting in the grass beside her.

She stared at them for a moment, then picked them up, dropping them into a pouch on her belt, to keep as a trophy.

She slowly rose to her feet, then limped off to join up with the rest of her team.