Chimera
by IronRaven
The Teen Titans and releated characters are the property of DC Comics, not mine.
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Slinking her way up the fire escape like a soaked, angry cat, Jinx sputtered and swore. She paused to wring out her hair again, she looked at the forelorn image in the mirror of a shaded window. That witch is dead! I'm going to beat her to death with her own leg bone.
This was too much. Jinx knew it had been personal between them for a while. She'd seen how Cyborg looked at Raven in some of the news coverage. She'd executed more than a few televisions since she'd been betrayed by 'Stone'. She'd loved him, she really had, then he turned out to be her enemy. Not just that, but an enemy for whom she was a convinence. Sure, he'd been a gentleman, nothing had really happened, but what had it been? Had he just found a substitute girlfriend? Had that been all she was? He hadn't been like any of the guys at the Academy, she felt special. She liked what and who she was when Stone had been around. He'd held the door for her, carried her books even after they stopped hazing him. She remembered him carrying her back to her room, tenderly, after she'd sprained her ankle in a training exercise, and gently binding the injured joint. Gizmo had just laughed; Mammoth hadn't even noticed he's stepped on her in the first place. And now, he was back with his Raven. Had they laughed at the silly little pink haired girl with the broken heart? Or had he even told her. Was she his dirty little secret?
Shaking her foot in disgust, Jinx instictively tried to kick the ooze off her foot, despite it having been soaked into her boot. She spit off the edge, a futile attempt to clear the taste from her mouth. Jinx could deal with being tackled, and sucked into that black nothingness. She'd had a class at the Academy on kidnapping, she could even respect the suddeness of the technique from a professional stand point. But that nothingness had been so cold. She rubbed her arms at the memory- she'd been covered in white frost.
Jinx popped the window's latch with a finger wave, and threw the panel upward. She stumbled into the apartment she shared with an annoying little rodent and some rats.
"Hey, watch i-" Gizmo tugged at the controller for his game, getting the cord out from under her, before his eyes shot open to a painful width. Gagging for air, he clamped down on his nose with his fingers. "What did you step in, gross! You smell like- aiiiii!"
Jinx strode past him as the case of soda he'd been using as a chair continued to explode with sprays of sugary, angry liquid. He just had the bad luck to stick all that soda too close to the radiator- it got so warm, the cans blew up. With a barely concealed sob, she slammed the bathroom door behind her. Of all the problems this apartment had, it had three advantages- it was cheap, the landlord didn't look closely at residents who payed cash, and it had plenty of hot water. She wanted to scrub her skin off, the stink would never leave her hair. She knew she was going to have to burn these clothes. She would never be able to feel clean again, there was nothing she'd done that deserved this, ever. Silent tears slid down her cheeks as she stripped off her boots. She didn't have to dump me in the organic compost pit for the city!
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Stepping through the shadows, Raven's fists were balled in rage. The other denzines of that realm could feel the tension in her- she was nearly vibrating with strain of keeping Rage within- and fled deeper into the spirit world. She'd heard the police report that a known super criminal was spotted at the waste center, on the edge of the city, and she had gone to investigate.
She stepped out of the shadows to breath, looking up at the tower. Her hair was soaked, matted, tangled. If she had had Starfire's lavish mane, it would be a lost cause. Wrapping it in black energy yet again, she squeezed, forcing more of the juices from it. The call had been pretty ordinary- a trespasser tripping an alarm, but the security gaurd had recognized the intruder as Jinx. Raven had phased into the building, and started searching.
Raven pulled off her torn, battered, dripping cape, weighing it down with a rock so it wouldn't blow away. Raven glared at it, debating... She had more of them, plenty more. She could cleanse the Earth of it. But only after she had brought a firey cleaning to- "No. I will not give in, you have no power over me."
Raven stepped back into the shadows, orienting herself within them, trying to ignore the laughter from the darkest corners of her mind. From what little Cyborg had said about Jinx, personally, after he had come back from the Hive, it almost seemed she and Jinx had been natural opposites, predestined. Raven flushed at the memory of Cyborg's crush on her. Raven didn't really know how she felt about Cyborg, other than he was a friend. She couldn't allow herself to want any more than that; she'd already made that mistake once within the team, almost twice, and it had caused her to doubt. She'd been happy he'd been able to find someone who's company her friend had enjoyed, even if it had caused him to question his alliances. He'd never said it, but you couldn't lie to an empath. She had asked him to tell her more about Jinx, trying to find the school of magic the other used, but learned instead about the girl. A lover a dark, slow jazz and poetry, who blended her own coffee. Sorceress, acrobat. If she'd not turned to theivery, if she'd had a better past, would the two be friends now? Shaking her head, Raven banished the thoughts.
She's a criminal, not a victem. She made her choice. Raven pressed at the innershadow of a wall, testing, probing, sighing with relief when she learned the light on the otherside was off. She stepped through, into the bathroom closest to her bedroom. Reaching through the total darkness, she turned the shower on, turning it to a level of warmth she normally wouldn't use. She stooped, pulling off her boots. This pair had just started to get comfortable, to. Still fully clothed, she stepped in, knowing she couldn't touch these clothes until they had at least been rinsed. This wasn't like playing Stankball; it was like being the Stankball. She had to borrow some of Starfire's flowery shampoo, anything to cover the scent. If anything could.
She closed her eyes, reliving it as the pulsing water blasted the goo from her hair. She never saw Jinx, but she saw the wave of "bad luck" coming towards her in the darkness. Raven saw the catwalk give way, falling towards the open vat of decomposing vegitable matter below. As someone who can fly, it shouldn't have been a problem, but 'somehow' her cloak had entangled in the metal, pulling her down into the stinking sludge. That was just... just... spiteful.
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Laying out on the roof her father's laboratory, Kimmer sprawled on a soft, silvery pad, her boots and belt beside her. She stretched, arching almost double, groaning happily as her back popped. Dark hair pooled under her head, as she looked up at the stars, dreaming. It had been a good day. Laying under the stars, just her and Pestus, was very soothing.
Unwinding, she crossed her fingers over her belly, tracing the smooth contors of her abdominal muscles. She had given each of them a second, equal taste of her abilities, this time using the other's talents against them. She looked down at her friend, perched on her nose. She grinned involuntarily, her nose twitching, as he tickled her with his wings. She tapped him with the tip of her tounge, making him buzz with annoyance.
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Author's notes: