Disclaimer: The Teen Titans do not belong to me, period.
Gunsmoke And Black Roses—Chapter Twenty-One
Jinx sat moping and worrying on a little cot in the Harem chamber, a thick blanket draped over her thin frame to try and cover what the rather unflattering outfit she'd been forced to change into did not.
She was being kept with the rest of Von Hellwing's little harem, comprised mostly of Norblitzian girls between the ages of 16 and 20, about fifteen of them in all. They'd been forced into this when Hellwing took over, and it seemed now Jinx had been too.
Immediately, when she'd regained consciousness, she tried to blast her way out with hexes. To her dismay, however, nothing happened… someone, or something, had sealed her powers somehow.
The other girls, many of whom remembered her from the last time she, Zero, and the others had come her, had tried to comfort her and assure her that Sub-Zero couldn't be dead, she was still afraid.
"I'm sure he's on his way back right now, coming to set us free." One of them said bracingly, putting a pale hand on Jinx's shoulder.
Jinx said nothing. She knew that he was probably lost in the dungeons somewhere, but she couldn't help but hope that the other girl was right. Unable to reply, she just pulled the blanket more tightly around herself and shivered violently.
"Zero… don't be dead. Don't be hurt." She mumbled under her breath. "And for God's sake… if you're alive, then hurry up. I don't want that...that… bastard to…" she looked down at what she was wearing which, combined with the fact she'd been thrown into a harem, didn't bode well… she shuddered, and tried to block those thoughts from her mind.
The knight in question was battling his way through the castle. He was looking for his gear, but to little avail. If he was going to fight Hellwing, he needed his sword…
"I must be getting close…" He muttered, looking around a corner. A large group of Black Riders was standing next to an armored door with a barred window…
He stepped out from behind the corner and cleared his throat loudly. They looked over and stared dumbly for a moment. Still thinking him powerless, they broke into a run and pulled back their lances, preparing to stab him.
Crouching down, his eyes flashed teal green… and a hissing noise filled the corridor. They stopped and looked around, searching for the source of the sound that was growing steadily louder…
Out of the blue, a literal tidal wave of boiling water splashed over Sub-Zero's back and sprayed the Riders forcefully against the far wall, smashing them to bits.
Sub-Zero ran up to the metal door and yanked… but it was locked, and wouldn't open.
He cursed silently, and banged his fist against the doorway, causing it to shake violently. But then… a small smirk appeared on his face. Steadily, it widened into a full-fledged grin.
Reaching into his belt, he pulled out a silvery lock pick and set to work cracking the lock. It was tough and for a moment, he thought he'd have to find another way in… but after taking a deep breath, pressing his ear to the doorway, and trying one more time… the lock opened with a resonant click.
Laughing in triumph and swinging the door open, he charged inside.
This room was a storage room, usually kept locked for security purposes. His stuff must be in here, somewhere…
After searching through numerous jars and crates without much success, he finally spotted a massive leather sack under a table, tied closed with a rope. He ripped the rope off and pulled it open.
Sure enough, there was his stuff right there. His sword, shield, war hammer… everything. He grabbed them and strapped them on, preparing for a fight.
Forming a sphere of frothing water in his hands and watching it glow and spray dimly, he muttered darkly under his breath. "If it's a fight he wants, it's a fight that he'll get…"
But as he was digging through this stuff, he noticed something else… a smooth, almost silken jet-black material. Curiously, he pulled it out and noticed that it was a dress… with dark bluish-purple frills around the neck-and-chest area and a jagged-edged skirt. Along with this, there was a pair of… striped stockings?
His brain snapped with realization.
"Jinx…!"
He'd recognize these clothes anywhere. Sure enough, when he lifted out the blue-and-black stockings, he found her dark blue high-heeled boots underneath
He stared incredulously. Why were her clothes here? And what was she in now…? He didn't like it.
With a grunt, he heaved himself up and made sure all his gear was on securely. Then, he broke into a run to the top of the keep, where the throne room was located.
Jinx was scowling and shaking uncontrollably as she was led down a long, cold hall with nothing on but the revealing two-piece harem dress, which rather resembled some kind of strange, ornate bikini with baggy, but sheer, leggings and some leather sandals.
She was really beginning to get cold now; the Black Rider guards had forced her to take off the blanket. She was still wearing a pair of shackles over her hands, though…
They went on for a long time, turning corner after corner and going up a couple of flights of stairs. With every step, she felt a growing sense of dread and foreboding, as though she was drawing near to something horrible.
Finally, they reached the huge icy doorway to the throne room. They stood still for a moment, and after some silence… the massive doors ground open slowly.
Abruptly, Jinx yelped as the Black Riders shoved her inside and slammed the huge doors behind her before she had time to react.
She laid still for a split second but gasped sharply and leapt to her feet when the cold of the snowy floor cut into her bare stomach. She glared up at the robed figure in the throne, gritting her teeth but shaking with both cold and nervousness.
"W-What do you w-want with me?" She demanded with chattering teeth, rubbing her arms together in an attempt to ward off frostbite. "And why are my powers gone?"
Hellwing sat silently for a moment. Then, he laughed low and loud… though it almost sounded more like a snarl than a laugh.
"Why Jinx, I'm surprised at you…" She jumped; startled that he knew her name somehow. "I would've thought you more intelligent."
She remained silent, but stared in confusion.
"Your shackles are enchanted. They are essentially good luck charms. This, of course, cancels out your hex and curse powers, which draw their magic from misfortune. However… all the good luck in the world isn't going to help you now." His eyes flashed eerily, a pair of glowing yellow orbs in the blackness of his hood.
She backed up, pressing her back fearfully to the wall, trying to ignore the cold that sliced into her like a knife.
With a sudden, puff of reddish smoke, Hellwing was gone… just gone. Jinx gasped and looked around nervously. Behind her, there was nothing… beside her, nothing. But… when she turned back around, he was right there, barely a foot and a half from her face.
She yelped with a start and fell back onto the ground, eyes wide with surprise.
"As for that first question… well, that should've been obvious by now."
With a movement as fast as a striking cobra, his gnarled claws lashed out and grabbed her around the waist. She struggled and kicked him rapidly, with enough force to send an ordinary man flying. He didn't seem to care, though… she would've slapped him, but the shackles rendered her hands useless.
His hood fell back, revealing his twisted face. A long, forked tongue flickered out of from in between his fangs and slithered against her cheek, causing her to whimper and yank her head away with disgust.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" The hex mistress shrieked, kneeing him in the gut and jumping away.
He doubled over, winded by her kick, and came back up with a growl a moment later. "You shouldn't do that, my dear. After all…" he paused and smoke rose from his slit nostrils for a moment. "… You wouldn't want me to have to finish off your little friend right away, now would you?"
"Sub-Zero'll come! He'll come for me and you'll be sorry you were ever born!" Jinx yelled angrily, beginning to shake, not only from the cold, but also with suppressed rage.
Hellwing was silent for a moment. But then his tall, robed form seemed to glide over the ground towards her, stopping a few feet away.
"You know… I might be able to arrange for a stay in the prison tower for him…" He said with a tone of mock politeness, as if he was talking about the weather. "… As opposed to a long, slow, excruciating death wandering the dungeons."
He flared with fire for a moment, hissing with wicked glee. "If you can manage to give me… the proper persuasion." He brought up a long finger and barely ran it's long, ugly nail against the underside of her neck. She shook her head violently and flinched away.
"Just one word… that's all it takes…" The sorcerer rumbled. "What's your answer…?"
There was a split moment of deathly silence that suggested Jinx was unsure of how to answer. Then, when she opened her mouth to speak…
… She spit in his face.
"You go to Hell… I belong to one, and one only." She muttered venomously, in a cutting tone that put Hellwing's own malevolent voice to shame.
With a snarl, he knocked her backwards several feet onto the floor. She moaned and shivered, trying to limited effect to get up.
Hellwing materialized a bright, crackling sphere of intense flames that let of fumes of smoke and steam and distorted the air around it with sheer heat. His evil gaze bore into her and his fanged mouth was pulled into a feral roar. "So be it!"
He flung the fireball at her at high velocity, and Jinx cowered down, preparing for the end of it all.
But it never came.
Instead… a loud, spraying, watery noise, rather like the roar of an erupting geyser, was accompanied by the airy hiss of extinguished flames. Jinx could've sworn that… she felt droplets of warm water spray onto her face. Stunned, she was unable to open her eyes for fear… until…
"You… don't… EVER… touch her." An icy from the other side of the room.
Instantly, Jinx's eyes snapped open. Hoping her ears were right, she gulped and turned her head to the side to look at the doorway.
There, amidst a pile of slain Black Riders, stood a figure of snowy white tresses, white baggy robe-clothes and a blue crystalline chestplate, tall teal boots, a silvery necklace shaped like a snowflake… sword and shield brandished, and his long blue cape with furry white trim concealing a massive war hammer strapped to his muscular back.
There was no mistaking him.
"Sub-Zero…" Jinx half squealed, half sobbed.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Hellwing bellowed.
"Oh, it's possible." Zero said calmly. And with no further warning, he hurled his shield, Snevakt, like an icy discus. It sailed through the air at an alarming rate and struck Hellwing with enough power to send him flying and thumping against the throne.
Sub-Zero caught it as it sailed back, and put it back on his arm. He charged with sword drawn.
Hellwing glowered and rose up again. He ran at the charging knight with his claws outstretched.
Sub-Zero, however, had a plan this time.
When they were just about to collide and clash blows, Sub-Zero leapt over him and shoved his sword through Hellwing's back, the tip of it protruding bloodily from the wizard's back.
Hellwing howled in pain and started yanking on the sword, trying to pull it out. Zero, still behind him, whipped his hammer, Hiverzbyrde, off his back and struck the hilt of Eviglasere. The force of the blow caused the sword to pierce the rest of the way through Hellwing and go flying out of his chest, sticking into a nearby wall.
Still stunned, Hellwing was knocked a good twenty feet away by a powerful, spinning jump-kick by Sub-Zero. The knight dashed over and grabbed his sword, yanking it from the wall and putting away his War hammer.
Hellwing, struggling to get up from the flurry of attacks Sub-Zero had delivered, was unable to dodge Zero's next upwards sword stroke. With a ripping and tearing noise, the icy blade slashed off both Hellwing's golden horns.
Sub-Zero caught the horns in his gloved hands, and whipped them around quickly so that the points of them were facing downwards. Then, holding them aloft like a pair of daggers, he jammed them down into Hellwing's skull and punched him backwards.
Hellwing lay there nearly dead, as Sub-Zero strode up and brandished his sword. Kneeling on one knee, Sub-Zero raised his blade.
"Sorry, wizard… but Hell… has just frozen over."
And with that, he shoved the sword into Hellwing's chest straight through his heart and into the floor below. He kept it there for a moment, then yanked it back out fiercely.
Even this, though, didn't seem to kill Hellwing. Despite being heavily injured, the sorcerer rose back up yet again and roared with fiery hatred. He blasted a shot of black magic out suddenly that knocked Sub-Zero back.
Scrambling to his feet, Sub-Zero faced off with Hellwing… eye-to-eye.
They stood there silently for a moment… no sound, no movement, and no feeling.
Then, simultaneously, they launched attacks at each other. Hellwing launched a pillar of Hellish flames that would've incinerated most anything instantly. Sub-Zero fired off a deluge of frothing, foaming water that sprayed forth with enough force to knock it's way through concrete.
The elements met, and there was a massive flash of light!
Nearly blinded, Jinx found herself hesitant to open her eyes. But when she finally did, she saw it.
Sub-Zero was standing victoriously… and Hellwing was on the a great distance away, soaking wet.
He lay there as though dead… and then… started to smoke.
Twitching erratically, he began to smoke and steam before their eyes. His already wrinkled skin began to rapidly grow more taut and dry, as though he was mummifying in fast motion. With a massive, thunderous roar, he crumbled… crumbled into a pile of ash in the middle of the room. A light shone forth from the ash, blue shafts of light surrounded by an ethereal white sheen... then, it rushed into Zero and caused him to stumble back.
Looked around, confused as to what just happened. Then, he realized... he held out his hand, and formed a ball of ice. In the other hand, he formed an orb of water. His ice powers were back! And he'd also retained his water powers, too.
The sorcerer of black magic and Hellfire was finally vanquished… for good.
Sub-Zero immediately sheathed his blade and ran over to Jinx, falling to his knees next to her. She moved to embrace him, but remembered that her hands were still shackled. He grabbed the chain between them, and with a mighty grunt, snapped it in his hands.
She smiled and grabbed him in a hug… but was alarmed a moment later when she found that wet droplets were dripping onto her head. Was he… crying?
She looked up, and sure enough he was trying to contain tears.
"Zero, what's wrong?" She asked urgently.
"J-Jinx…" He stammered. "I… please, I'm sorry… If I'd have gotten here earlier…" He paused and shook his head. "Oh my God… did he hurt you?"
She shook her head, pink pigtails waving slightly. "No. You got here in time to prevent that, thank God." With that, she leaned up and kissed him on the lips. They remained like that for at least a minute and a half before breaking apart for air…
… and then, they did the same thing again.
This time, Jinx broke away and caressed his cheek. "Zero… don't worry. It's over now; we can go home."
He nodded and regained his composure. "I, er… found your clothes in the storage room. C'mon, I'll take you there. Then, we can go rescue Flake-Bane."
Flake-Bane was stunned. He had been held onto a wooden chopping-block, about to be beheaded by an axe-wielding Black Rider. But just as the ash golem had raised the axe… it had just disappeared. So had the ones holding him down, and all the others…
Did that mean that Sub-Zero had done it? Had he defeated Lord Von Hellwing?
"Bless you Sub-Zero…" He muttered under his breath, and took off towards the prison tower. While he'd been held prisoner, he'd met up with the King. King Tundra was alive, along with all the other knights! They were prisoners, but now they could be freed… all thanks to Zero.
Three Hours and Eleven Minutes Later…
The entire populace of Norblitz was gathered cheering, throwing confetti, and waving banners at its icy coastline, gathered to bid bon voyage to Sub-Zero and Jinx as they departed back for Jump City.
Sub-Zero accepted the King and the people's sincerest thanks. But the biggest shock was when several people, including the King himself, asked Sub-Zero if he was interested in the idea of staying and becoming the king himself.
The knight stared incredulously for a moment. And when Flake-Bane said jokingly, "Think of it, mate… Jinx could be a Queen, y'know."…
Sub-Zero just smiled and said: "She already is." Then, he kissed her again on the forehead and she nuzzled into his neck, now back into her own clothes.
So, with a fond farewell, they departed on the Fryse Wyrm to go home again.
And somewhere in the whereabouts of the sea, Sub-Zero asked hesitantly…
"Jinx… you, ah… you didn't think to keep that Harem outfit, did you?"
"Um… No…"
He sighed heavily.
"Why?"
"Oh, just… just wondering…"
'Crap.' He pouted mentally.
Well, Lord Von Hellwing is dead; Sub-Zero and Jinx are on their way home. Next chapter, we'll find out how the Titans are reacting to Smoke's new power.
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--Count Le Madphantom…
