The pink haired sorceress stepped into a small clearing, still limping slightly; her cheek had stopped bleeding, but was still bright red.
She looked up to see her team, Gizmo and Mammoth already there waiting for her.
"Jinx, where has your scrub-buffin' butt been?" snapped Gizmo.
Jinx sighed, and pointed at her cheek, "I ran into a little resistance, that Shadow character from Jump City, but her won't be bothering us anymore. How about you two, is Control Freak loose and doing his thing?"
"Of course he is, it would take a real moron to not be able to spring that fat tub of lard from prison."
Jinx smirked briefly, then dropped back to deadpan as pain shot through her cheek, bringing a wince with it, "Well, he'll keep the Titans busy enough to keep them out of our hair just long enough for us to get what we need, and get out."
Mammoth spoke up, "Yeah, nothing fancy, just a pick-up and go."
Jinx rubbed her cheek again, then sighed lightly, "One of you keep watch, I need to rest a bit, so I'm ready for tonight."
With that, she laid down, and was asleep instantly.
Gizmo immediately resumed his grumbling, "Who put that snot brained witch in charge of this mission to begin with."
Mammoth, with his incredible knack for stating the obvious replied, "Brother Blood."
Gizmo glared at him, shutting Mammoth up immediately.
The theatre was in absolute chaos in preparation for the evening performance; actors, stagehands, musicians, and other staff ran around like crazy, everyone doing their part to get ready, and Miss Harcourt stood in the midst of it all, coordinating the chaos as best as could be done.
Amber shot past her in a blur, on some sort of an errand.
"Amber!" called Miss Harcourt.
The teenage girl skidded to a stop and turned around to see what her manager wanted, "Yes'm?"
"Have you seen Mr. Anderson?"
"No I haven't, but I guess he's probably trying to stay out of the way, so I doubt we'll see much of him."
"Well, I guess that makes sense…he'll probably turn up come performance time.
Be-beep Be-beep Be-beep
Jinx's cat eyes slid open as she reached over and pressed the button on her communicator that shut off the alarm, she rolled gracefully to her feet, straightened her jumpsuit and hair, then looked at her comrades.
"Showtime."
Jinx sat perched on top of the theatre, behind one of it's stone guardians, pink eyes trained on the arriving vehicles.
Without averting her gaze she slipped the communicator from her hip and whispered into it, "Jinx here, are you all in position?"
"This is Mammoth, I'm ready."
"I'm here," snarled Gizmo.
Jinx nodded, "Good." Her gaze abruptly locked in on a jet-black limousine that had just pulled in, "The target has arrived."
She turned from her watch post towards her attack position, sliding the radio back into it's holster as she walked.
Her slender hand traced the thin slice in her cheek, it still hadn't stopped stinging, she'd have to have it looked at once she got back to the academy.
Shrugging it off, she dropped back through a hatch in the roof and disappeared into the rafters.
"Is everything ready?" Miss Harcourt asked as she looked around the now cleaned and organized lobby.
"Yes Ma'am." stated Amber, standing right next to her.
Miss Harcourt was now dressed in an elegant black floor-length dress, Amber in a black skirt-suit complete with a small rose tucked into the lapel.
Miss Harcourt took a deep breath, then commanded, "Open the doors."
Two tuxedoed ushers moved to fulfill her request.
"Amber, stay out here to help out where you can, I need to get backstage."
"Yes'm." Amber replied, put on her best smile, and prepared to great the guests.
The play rolled on, keeping the audience entranced, and the climax before intermission was about to strike.
The Phantom yelled in his rage, then 'cut loose' the massive chandelier that hung over the crowd.
As it plummeted towards the ground, one person yelled out and pointed.
All eyes fixed on, not the chandelier, but on the person who rode it down.
A certain pink-haired witch stood balanced on the falling light fixture, and as swooped towards the stage, jumped off in a clean front-flip, while still inverted, she let loose a burst of hex into the cables supporting the chandelier, sending it crashing to the stage.
With a bone-shaking roar, Mammoth burst up, through the stage, launching wood shrapnel everywhere, as Gizmo burst through the back doors on four spidery legs, shoulder cannons armed and ready.
"This is a HIVE takeover!" yelled Jinx, "Nobody move!"
Gizmo gave everyone in the frightened crowd a chance to look down the barrels of his cannons, "If all of you mindless idiots cooperate, no one gets blasted."
Mammoth looked through the crowd, until he spotted their target, a highly decorated four-star Admiral.
He plowed through the crowd like a bulldozer and grabbed him by his collar, carrying him to Jinx, "Got 'im."
"Nice job," she replied, then smiled all too cheerfully and poked a finger at the admiral's face, "Hi there Admiral Johnson, you have the codes to a few little missiles we want, lets go."
Mammoth hoisted the frightened admiral over his shoulder, and headed for the doors, as Jinx led the way. Gizmo turned to follow, but in a flash of inspiration, turned and launched a few parting rockets into the set.
The explosions lit the entire stage on fire, and mass panic broke out in the audience.
The three students jogged out into the lobby, Jinx reaching the main doors first, she reached her hand towards the door, then froze, a low rumble was heard outside, as the massive doors literally fluctuated, then with a roar of raw energy were blown inwards, off their hinges.
The eruption of power hurled all three HIVE members and their captive across the lobby, slamming them roughly into the far wall.
"What the heck? Was Control Freak that pathetic that the Titans still made it here?" yelled Gizmo looking over at Jinx, then realized she wasn't looking back at him, but at the destroyed entryway with her mouth hanging open.
"N-no, you're dead! I……Killed You!"
Gizmo looked in the direction she was to see a tall, armor-clad, blue-eyed, very-much-alive warrior, a cold smirk on my face.
My eyes flared emerald, and a rush of enchanted water extinguished the inferno that was burning on the stage, then I turned to face my opponents.
"I don't know how you survived that last run-in we had, Bright-eyes," Jinx snarled, "But you won't pull off a miracle like that again, Attack Pattern, Beta, GO!"
The three scattered into various directions, trying to keep a constant flanking position on me.
Gizmo immediately opened up on me with his shoulder-cannons. With a flare of emerald energy, I cast Barrier around myself, leaving the blasts to deflect harmlessly off.
I heard a roar behind me as Mammoth charged me from behind, I threw myself into the air performing a back flip so that when I was inverted, Mammoth was right under me.
I instantly reached out and touched his forehead, "Sweet Dreams."
My eyes flashed, and his instantly flipped shut; he staggered a few steps, then collapsed to the ground, snoring heavily.
Jinx and Gizmo stared at him for a moment, then turned back towards me.
"What the…" muttered Jinx.
She was cut off by a battle cry from Gizmo as he came charging at me on his four robotic legs.
I rolled my eyes, then rolled my body, right between the legs of his machine. I shot straight up off the ground behind him, sword drawn.
The enormous blade cleaved his backpack in half; the two halves shorted out, sparked, the exploded throwing the small fighter into the wall, he slumped to the ground, unconscious.
I turned to face Jinx, spun my sword, locked it back into it's clamps, adjusted my gloves, then lowered my hands to my side.
"Pathetic."
Jinx glared at me angrily, "Why you, y-you'll pay for that! I beat you before, I'll do it again!"
"Alright then," I said smirking coldly, "Lets dance."
She snarled and sprinted at me, rolling her charge into a front flip, bringing her foot down at my head.
I simply stood there, then at the last possible moment, my hand flashed up and caught her shoe, stopping her in mid-air, the flipped her around, dropping her on her backside.
"Come on now, you'll have to do better that that."
"RRRRGH!" she hurled a burst of hex at my head. My sword was out in an instant, I swung it like a baseball bat, knocking the bolts right back at her.
She yelped and dove out of the way as the floor she had been standing on exploded.
I resheathed my sword as she drove at me fists flying, I easily blocked her attacks, and countered with my own, which she in turn blocked.
We both kicked apart from each other at the exact same time, she spun and ran up the side wall of the lobby, flipped off it to come back down at me.
Instead of waiting for her this time, I ran forward, jumped against the wall, kicked off of it, and drove a combat boot into her chest.
Her petite body flew towards the floor, as she barely managed to rotate around to land on her feet.
"Catch," I came down at her, sword first, she jumped back to dodge, allowing it to slam into the ground, shattering floorboards.
The blade flashed in reverse as I brought it straight back up out of the ground, and up at her again, forcing her backwards.
I came at her again, using the same sword spinning pattern I had the night before, driving her across the lobby quickly.
Jinx's eyes lit up as she recognized the pattern, and waited for her moment to strike.
Just as she almost reached the wall, I let loose a broad sweeping slice, she jumped straight into the air, and again landed on top of my blade, wound up to kick, then froze as I smiled at her and winked.
I spun around so the sword rested over my shoulder, then swung it like the arm of a catapult, launching her across the room.
Her small frame rag-dolled into the wall near the auditorium doors.
She blinked her cat-eyes repeatedly trying to clear the cobwebs in her head. Her head came up to see me striding calmly across the room towards her, sword at my side.
Quickly scanning the room for options, her gaze settled on the doors that stood next to her.
I followed the HIVE student's gaze to see a sizable crowd gathered by the doors watching us fight, with Amber standing near the front.
"J-J-Josh?" she stammered.
I looked back at my opponent and read her intentions plainly, but she moved before I could, leaping over to the crowd, she pulled Amber out by the hair and throat and held the teenager in front of herself as a human shield.
"I see you two know each other Bright Eyes,"
Amber continued to stare at me in disbelief as the pink witch continued, "I don't know why my hex bolts don't seem to hurt you, but if your little friend here gets hit, she dies. Now drop your sword."
I complied, gently laying my sword on the ground, then my eyes fell on the cut on her cheek, as a cold smirk came across my face.
"So, you think taking a hostage will save you?"
My eyes met hers as Jinx charged a bolt in her hand,
"You're sadly mistaken, all that'll do is cause you more pain."
Her face twisted in confusion, then my eyes flared emerald green, as did the cut on her cheek.
The veins across her cheek, spreading from the cut took on a black hue. She cried out as waves of pain assaulted her, the hex charge faded as she staggered back clutching her face.
"What…the…" She managed to get out. As the dark flow began to creep down her neck as well.
She crumpled to the ground and curled up into the fetal position sobbing uncontrollably.
I solemnly stepped up overtop the suffering assassin, and quietly spoke, "When my blade cut you, it was charged with an enchanted venom that I can control, if I let it continue you will die after an hour of pain, continually growing more severe."
I looked down at her as her sobs became some intense her body jerked with every one.
"Do you surrender?"
She painfully managed a nod, and stammered out, "Y-yes."
I looked at her pained pink eyes, flowing tears, and no longer saw the deadly, fearless, Hive assassin Jinx, but a frightened teenage girl.
My mind's eyes suddenly shifted, and in my mind I saw not Jinx, but a different young girl, dark blonde-haired and green-eyed, also in pain.
I shook my head to clear the unwanted sight, closed my eyes and concentrated, my eyes reopened shimmering green.
The black poison in her body faded to nothing as a bizarre sparkling surrounded her body. My eyes flickered slightly as I switched to a cure spell. The emerald glow flowed around her body, repairing all the cuts and bruises across her body, and as it had on Raven, the spell faded, leaving her unconscious.
As my eyes faded back to normal, they melted from the cold eyes of a soldier, to ones that betrayed a deep sadness.
I gently scooped the sleeping girl up and carried her over, setting her down next to the still snoring Mammoth.
Before I let her go, I leaned to her ear and whispered, "I'm sorry."
I solemnly stood up, then walked over to the KO'd Gizmo, grabbed him by his ankles and drug him over to join the other two. As I began to stand up to walk away, I saw something sparkle.
I turned and saw the edge of my shades sticking out of one of Jinx's belt pockets. I gently slid them out, and put them back on.
The entire audience stared out the doors at me with varying looks of amazement, disbelief, and confusion, I returned their gaze calmly.
"Could…somebody bring me some rope?"
A stage hand rushed off to get it, as Miss Harcourt pushed her way through the crowd and stepped forward, hands on her hips, "Alright, 'Joshua Anderson,' what is going on here?"
I sighed and shook my head, "Alright, I guess it's about time I went public anyway." I paused and took a deep breath, "My name…is not Joshua Anderson; I am called Shadow, the latest addition to the Teen Titans. I was here on a covert operation, because I'm the only member of the team that is not publicly known. We had reason to believe that something was happening here, so I was sent in to investigate. I posed as the wealthy businessman Joshua Anderson to get myself in the doors."
At that moment the stagehand returned with a good length of rope and I set about tying their wrists and feet.
The surrounding crowd jumped at the sound of charging feet, a charging sonic cannon, and the rush of starbolts. The Titans burst through the main doors, Robin in the lead with a fan of birdarangs in his hands.
"Titans G…oh, umm, never mind."
I looked up as I tied the last knot in the makeshift bonds, "Hey guys, how's it?"
"Uh, we're good, what happened here?"
"HIVE broke in and tried to kidnap an admiral of some sort, I think they were after some kind of code."
Robin's eye mask widened, "Nuclear launch codes?"
"Yeah, that's it."
The Titans were silent for a moment until Beast Boy spoke, "Whoa, and I thought we had it hard with Control Freak."
"Huh what?"
"We'll tell you later," cut in Robin, "The news vans are already coming." Robin then turned to me and smirked, "Your operation, the news crew is your problem, good luck."
With that, he turned and led the Titans back out the door.
I watched the Titans leave, then turned and smiled at the gathered crowd.
"These three should be out until well after the police arrive. Later." I spun on my heels and jogged out the doors, disappearing into the darkness, a few moments later they all heard the roar of my bike leaving, fast.
Amber stood there, smile on her face, staring out into the night after me, "So, Shadow…does exist."
Later that night, the crew of the theatre was slowly cleaning up the mess left behind by the HIVE attack.
Miss Harcourt sat quietly in the back of the auditorium, face in her hands. The theatre was wrecked, and without the profit from the rest of the performances, she doubted the theatre would be able to stay in business.
The actions of the new Titan had saved the people of the theatre, but had ruined the business of it.
Her thoughts were interrupted by someone quietly clearing their throat next to her.
She turned her tear-stained face to see Amber standing there, and smiled weakly.
"Yes, what is it Amber?"
Amber reached into the inside pocket of her suit coat and produced an envelope.
"Th-this was stuck in the back door."
Miss Harcourt took the letter and turned it over, her name was written across the front of the envelope in rough print, and in the corner of it, was a simple 'S.'
She took a deep breath, and opened the envelope, coming out with a folded piece of notebook paper, written on in the same rough print, she read the short note aloud:
"Dear Emily,
I'd like to say I'm sorry one more time for the deception, and the damage I caused during my fight against HIVE. But I also want you to know that I am keeping the promise I made when we first met. Also in the envelope you will find a cashiers check that should easily cover the money lost due to the theatre being too damaged to host the other performances, as well as enough to repair and refurbish the entire theatre. Again, I'm sorry again for all the trouble I caused, and I hope you can forgive me someday.
Sincerely,
Shadow"
Her hand slipped back into the envelope and produced the long promised check; her eyes were immediately brimming with tears as she clutched it to herself tightly, "Thank you, Joshua."
In the woods, just to the side of the theatre, a pair of shimmering blue eyes looked on through a window as Emily Harcourt showed the small check to Amber, who immediately clapped a hand over her mouth, then hugged her supervisor. I smiled to myself lightly, the vanished again into the darkness