4/23/22

…...

Change for the Better

Chapter Nine: Pit of Despair

…..

Jinx yawned, poking her pancakes with her fork. Her eyelids drooped shut, fluttering slightly as she struggled to stay awake. Sleep had eluded her since her previous meeting with the other heroes of Central City, instead replaced with long nights filled of tossing and turning. She probably would've fallen asleep at the table, too, if it weren't for the stampede of elephants that came crashing down the stairs.

"Last day of school! Last day of school! Goodbyyyyye seventh grade, hellooooo summer break!"

Jinx couldn't help but smile, despite her nerves about the upcoming day. At least there was a little good left in her life. When she was at the Hive Academy, she never could've dreamed of seeing her sister again, yet here Felicity was- alive, happy, and unfortunately every bit as rambunctious as she had been ten years prior. It was a trait that a younger Jinx had initially chalked up to Felicity being a typical 3 year old, but now that she was a little more grown up it was clear that she was just like that. Felicity, or Lizzy as most called her to differentiate her from a family friend, was openly weird but wore it well. Over the past few weeks of getting to know her again, Jinx had discovered that Lizzy now enjoyed sculpting and ice hockey, and that she was best friends with a girl who lived on their street. She was in a school-hating phase as well, hence the excitement over the coming summer.

"Lizzy, there's pancakes by the stove," her foster father called.

John Park had been Jinx's favorite person when she was little. He was a surgeon by day, though his true passion was art. He had taught her everything she knew about sketching (or at least, everything that wasn't self-taught since the last time they saw each other), and it was because of his influence that she still made time to create even when she was involved with the H.I.V.E. His grandparents were first generation Korean immigrants, and though she had never met either of them Jinx fondly remembered the times John would retell the very stories they would tell him as a little boy. He was every bit as warm hearted and kind as Jinx remembered him, and their previous relationship very quickly picked up where it left off.

She wished she could say the same for her foster mother.

She could feel Hilda Park's gaze, staring at her intently. Jinx turned to return it, but Hilda looked away shyly, focusing on the newspaper in front of her. It wasn't that she was overly involved in her job as a camerawoman and photographer for one of the local news stations, it was simply that Hilda had turned into an even bigger anxious mess than she was when Jinx disappeared as a child, and the paper was the nearest distraction. Jinx understood it, she really did. It was as though Hilda was afraid of getting close again. Jinx had overheard a conversation between her parents one night, one that was most definitely not meant for her ears, about that very subject. She was absolutely terrified that she would lose her again. It explained why Hilda was stepping around her like she was a delicate porcelain doll, but that didn't mean Jinx had to enjoy this treatment. Although Hilda had always been a bit nervous, it was never quite this bad. The mother she remembered had been a refuge of safety, someone she always knew she would be protected by. Even if she was strong enough to not need her mother's protection anymore, it still hurt to see her like this.

If Lizzy noticed the rift in their family, she gave no indication of it. She plopped down in the chair across from Jinx's with a large stack of pancakes, drizzling them in chocolate syrup and shoveling them into her mouth. Jinx snorted, rolling her eyes and trying not to imagine her former teammates doing the same.

"Morning Linda!" Lizzy chirped, mouth filled of half-chewed pancake.

Jinx hummed in acknowledgment, poking her own pancakes once more. She managed to stomach a few bites before John broke the silence.

"Lizzy, we're taking your sister to meet with our lawyer this morning. We should be back in time to get you off the bus, but you're welcome to have Catherine over either way."

"Can't you wait for me to get home so I can go with you?" Lizzy whined.

Jinx tried to stop her knee from bouncing, failing to calm the nerves that were causing such a gesture. "It's not like the adoption is actually getting finalized today. It's just a lot of paperwork so the government doesn't get to run experiments or something on me instead."

Her mother turned noticeably paler, and Jinx regretted opening her mouth. She turned her attention back to her plate, knee still bouncing. Her father reached across the table for her mother's hand, and Jinx felt a surge of guilt.

"Hildy-"

Her mother shook her head. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

"Sorry," Jinx sighed.

The mood grew awkward. Jinx knew she shouldn't be surprised. After all, she was a total screw-up. She didn't deserve to be reintegrated into society. She didn't deserve to have her family back. Everyone knew it.

What did surprise her was when her mother was the one to break the silence.

"Linda, sweetie? I've been talking to a friend who is the principal at the high school. I don't know how much... they... taught you, but I know next year is supposed to be your senior year and I know how important that is to some girls. We were thinking sometime over the summer you could come in for a placement test just to make sure you're on track to start next fall. You could even do online school if you're not comfortable being around the other students all day, but he said you would still be allowed to go to prom and things like that if you wanted."

Jinx avoided her gaze. "Maybe I should just get my GED."

"Linda-"

Jinx stood up, taking her plate to the sink. "I'm not hungry. I'll meet you in the car."

...

Beast Boy sighed in relief as he approached the Gotham City Police Department. Finally, after all this time, their quest was nearing its end. He glanced over at D'kay, smiling at her in reassurance, but her face remained stony and expressionless. She talked to him less, now that the secret of her true identity was out. No matter how many times Beast Boy tried to reach out, it was like she was convinced he no longer trusted her. As much as he hated to admit it, she was correct on some level. But that didn't mean he hated her, and it certainly didn't mean he wouldn't help her! He understood why she did it, but he couldn't control his personal feelings on the matter.

"Wait. There's someone here," D'kay said, blocking him with her arm.

Knowing they had been found out, two purple-clad figures stepped out of the shadows. Beast Boy recognized them instantly. Catwoman and Huntress. His smile returned, feeling relieved once more. D'kay, however, didn't lower her arm.

"It's okay, D'kay! They're with the League!" He said, trying to walk around D'kay's arm.

In response, D'kay stretched her arm like silly putty, dragging him back to her defensively. It didn't take an empath to know that she wasn't as happy with this turn of events as he was.

"Beast Boy, we can't let you take that file," Huntress warned.

He felt his blood turn cold.

"How... how you know about that?" he stuttered. "No... wait! Please! We have to see it! You don't understand what's at stake here!"

"I think we know more than you do. Has D'kay told you why she really wants that file?"

Beast Boy scowled, feeling defensive. "Of course she did! That's why it's so important to find it! C'mon Catwoman, aren't you supposed to help save people now?!"

Suddenly, with a quick thump, Huntress collapsed to the ground. Beast Boy's eyes widened in shock, his first instinct being to rush to her aid, but he couldn't. His legs felt stiff, planted firmly in place and refusing to move. His whole body felt heavy, and panic began to set in.

"Huntress!" Catwoman yelped, reaching for her teammate frantically.

She froze midair, body levitating off the ground. Her limbs flailed helplessly, before freezing into place. Beast Boy squirmed, trying to move once more, but his body was still frozen in place. Their eyes locked, and he could see the pure terror on her face.

"Beast Boy, run!"

He tried. He really did. But his body refused to cooperate once more.

Catwoman flew into the side of the police station, ramming into the wall repeatedly. There was a sick, crackling sound as her body hit the wall for a final time, blood oozing down the side of her arm. She dropped limply to the ground, like a rag-doll that a child was finished playing with.

An expression of unhinged glee was plastered to D'kay's face.

"D'kay... what did you do?" Beast Boy whimpered.

D'kay paused, studying his face carefully. There was no trace of guilt or remorse on her own face. Beast Boy shuddered, a wave of nausea hitting him abruptly.

"I think it's time for you to sleep now," D'kay said casually.

Before he could protest, Beast Boy's world faded into darkness.

...

Superboy yawned, staring at the clock on the bottom of his monitor screen. It was nearly midnight in his normal timezone, though the Watchtower's location in space kept it outside of such arbitrary human concepts. He would never admit it to Superman, but he was ready to end this conversation and go the heck to sleep. Most of the Justice League was currently away on another planet deeper in the cold heart of space, helping the Green Lantern Corps. This mostly left sidekicks and younger heroes behind to protect the earth, with a few exceptions such as The Flash and Hawkgirl, but that didn't mean the League was willing to completely abandon their sidekicks. Many of them, such as Superman, were insistent on holding regular video chats. Although Superboy initially enjoyed the conversations with his father, he was definitely over it by this point.

In fact, he was almost more "over it" than he was with Beast Boy's behavior.

Which was saying something.

He could've punched the kid.

"I'm just really annoyed with him right now," he huffed, boredly fidgeting with a pen. "And now you're saying I can't even go help?"

Superman sighed. "It's like I told you, Kon. Bruce had Selina and Huntress take care of it. You've done a lot, and we appreciate it, but right now we just need you to stay out of it."

Superboy stared at his pen, wedging his thumb under the metal clip on the end. It slightly pinched his finger, more of a tickle than anything, really, before snapping off from the pressure. He returned the pen to its cup, sweeping the clip into a pile of other discarded clips. It was a bad habit. It annoyed the heck out of his teammates. But it could be worse. It could be drugs. It could be crime. It could be following random suspicious strangers to the ends of the earth (or at least Gotham City) despite all the obvious red flags and warning signs to fetch an equally suspicious file.

Maybe he was slightly annoyed with Beast Boy. Just slightly.

Come to think of it...

"Um... so... what was in that file, anyways?" he asked. "I get that it had some stuff about the Martian escape pods, but why was it so important?"

"Nothing good, I'm afraid. The reason that file is so sensitive is because during the investigation of the pods, the police ended up uncovering some information about the secret identity that Martian Manhunter took after coming to Earth. For J'onn's sake, we've managed to keep it under wraps for now, but D'kay must've figured out something was going on. D'kay has already tried attacking him recently, so who knows what she could do to him with that kind of information."

Superboy avoided Superman's gaze again. There was an unspoken question hanging in the air, and neither of them dared to bring it up.

What could she do to Garfield?

"I'm just glad we figured out what was going on before it got any worse," Superboy mumbled, reaching for a new pen to break.

"Me too, Kon. Me too."

Suddenly, a loud, sizzling sound filled the air as the Watchtower's zeta tube roared to life. Superboy spun around in his chair to see who could be visiting at this hour. It wasn't like anyone was supposed to relieve him from monitor duty anytime soon, and the Justice League's base of operations was unlikely to receive any unnecessary visitors this late at night. Whatever it was, it was probably something important.

As if to confirm his fears, Catwoman and Huntress appeared before him. Neither hero was in great shape. Huntress was completely unconscious, with Catwoman struggling to carry her with one arm. Catwoman herself was barely standing, bloodstains spattering on her costume garishly. The arm that wasn't being used to support Huntress hung limply at her side, twisted in an unnatural position. Blood oozed out of an open wound on her arm, red clashing violently with the purple fabric of her costume.

"Hey Clark," she mumbled, eyelids fluttering shut. "Could you get Helena for me? I think... I need to lay down for a bit."

Her knees gave out on her as she collapsed to the floor. Huntress slipped from her grasp on the way down, still not waking from the impact. Superman yelled something, but whatever it was didn't register to Superboy's ears. He raced forward to where the older heroes now lay, trying and failing not to panic. His nerves settled slightly when he realized they were both still breathing. He shook Catwoman by the shoulders in a desperate attempt to wake her up, which was only slightly successful.

"Steve? Where... Maggie?" she slurred, eyelids drooping shut.

Superboy scowled. Would it kill her to get his name right today?

"None of the above. It's Conner. Where the heck is Beast Boy?"

A flicker of recognition danced in her eyes as they opened slightly.

"It's over. D'kay... won."

….

And thus, after an entirely too long hiatus, I have returned! Sorry about the wait. Seriously. I can't say this chapter alleviates the pain of the previous cliffhanger, but we're definitely getting somewhere. The reason for the hiatus was because I decided to focus on finishing one fic at a time for a while without worrying about updating my other ones. It certainly worked, as I did manage to finish my Hunger Games trilogy, but on the other hand it also causes situations like this where I last updated at the beginning of a global pandemic and I'm just now posting the next update as things are starting to wind down. But such is life. I'm still mostly going to use that strategy to focus on getting my other Teen Titans fic finished, but from now on I'll try to post chapters for this fic as well.

Quote of the day:

"It would be like explaining anime body pillows to a small Victorian era child." - context too long for this one, just appreciate it

May the odds be ever in your favor,

~Spectrobes Princess