Charmed

The glittering lights shimmered on the small, metallic object that lay in all its technological glory before Brother Blood's widening eyes. Julius smiled seeing his head master being so pleased.

Brother Blood smirked "Absolutely marvelous, the ion amplifier. It's capable of giving any student the ability to increase his powers to levels beyond all imagination. Oh, ho, ho, I will take great pleasure in seeing this little device in action".

Julius explained "The amplifier is designed to accelerate and amplify anyone's powers to the utmost maximum capacity. It slides right over your arm, and is compatible with any student's genetic physiology".

Brother Blood nodded "Your family certainly knows there stuff young Julius".

Julius bashfully smiled "Greatly appreciated head master, but I should warn you to be careful with whom you give this to. Only the best of the best will be able to get the full potential out of this device. I suggest you pick your candidates wisely".

"Oh don't worry about that young Julius; in fact I think I already have someone in mind" Blood replied.

Julius curiously asked "Can he be trusted?".

Brother Blood wickedly grinned "Not yet (eyes glow bright red) but soon he will".

The metallic doors opened and Julius exited Blood's chambers. Julius sighed a bit, looking at the 2 gold suited HIVE soldiers guarding the doors. "Come on, this way" a female voice said. Julius turned to see Jinx actually walking down the hallway, in front of her, was the number one student he heard so much about, Stone. The gray skinned boy said something that made Jinx giggle, he was carrying her books and Jinx was following him to lunch.

"I'll catch up with you a minute" Jinx said, she turned to head towards her locker and gasped seeing Julius standing there. The boy shyly replied a nervous "Uh hi", Jinx half smiled "Yeah you too, uh excuse me". The dark girl moved around Julius and headed towards her locker. Slender gray digits turned her lock, adjusting the numbers before opening the locker door. Julius bit his lip "Your name is Jinx isn't it?", the girl blinked oddly and turned.

This obviously had upset the girl, Julius shook his head "Look I didn't mean any harm I was j-j-j-just curious. I heard someone call you Jinx and I was just wondering". Jinx nodded and replied "Yeah, that's me". She went back to scurrying through her locker, grabbing a few things as Julius stood there. The boy slowly stuttered "M-m-m-my name's", "Julius, I know" Jinx said. Shock and awe painted Julius face, he couldn't believe she knew his name.

Jinx continued "Don't look so surprised, you're that boy genius everyone talks about, supposed to be a real prize prodigy and all that jazz". Nervous laughter escaped Julius at her words, he nodded bashfully "Yeah, that's me, pretty cool huh?". The girl slammed her locker shut and shook her head "Not really". Jinx walked off and started to head back to the hallway, Julius nervously blurted out "Well uh is music cool to you?". Jinx turned around.

"Excuse me?" the girl asked. Julius gulped "I uh was just wondering i-i-i-if you liked m-m-music at all because I……I got an r-r-really cool sound system in my room. And if you ever wanted to stop by and just h-h-hang out and I don't know……listen to music or something". A few minutes of awkward silence passed before Jinx finally realized what Julius was saying. It was obvious now what was going on, and Jinx wasn't too pleased with it.

The pink haired girl sighed and walked over to Julius, looking him square in the eye and speaking sincerely. "Look, you're a pretty nice guy, so I'm not going to lie to you. It's not gonna happen. You got good tastes but bad timing, I'm with Stone now, deal with it, okay?" Jinx said. The young scientist hanged his dark haired head down a bit, saying nothing as Jinx walked away. A few seconds later the shadowy girl, Scarab had appeared.

Scarab smirked "Got quite a set of thorns there, doesn't she? Of course there nothing compared to mine". The armored insect smirked, admiring her black and red beetle armored arms, flexing her claws and spiky limbs. "I'm going to ask her out again" Julius said. The beetle girl gasped and rubbed her insect crown firmly, Scarab groaned "What the hell are you talking about? How can you ask her out again, she just told you she has a BOYFRIEND.

That little tart is already taken, can't you see that? I mean seriously why are you so hypnotized by that pink haired little hussie?". The boy's shoes stopped at the edge of the hallway, his dark cloak coat turning as he looked to Scarab. Julius grinned "I have absolutely no idea, and that's exactly why she's worth it. Building a sub-atomic particle accelerator is one thing, but finding a worthy opponent in the opposite sex, now that is something".

The next day……

"And that is how one properly demonstrates the power of their doomsday weapon" Scarab said. Mad Mod clapped, proudly boasting "Jolly well done lass, jolly well done. Always appreciate a youngster of your quality to lend us a hand or two, love". The black beetle colored girl bowed and greedily hogged the applause and glory of the class, Jinx angrily grinded her teeth. Scarab was always picking on Jinx during her first semester at the HIVE.

No matter what she tried, or who she tried it with, Jinx had been outclassed by Scarab in every way, and what's worse is that she always rubbed it in Jinx's face. The class bell rang and the students got up to went to their next class. As Jinx exited Mod's classroom, she found Julius standing right by the door. The dark girl groaned out loud, she thought she made this clear the last time. But still, there he was, standing right there as anxious and shy as ever.

"Hi there Jinx, still struggling in class?" Julius asked. Scarab smirked as she eavesdropped; Jinx frowned with disgust at both of them. Angrily Jinx replied "Look, I thought I made this clear yesterday, I don't like you. I don't want a tutor, I don't need a tutor, what I need is for you to take a HINT". Julius scratched his black and shadowy hair, fumbling his textbooks a bit. "Well I actually didn't show up here for tutoring lessons" Julius said.

Curiously leaning in closer, Scarab watched the two of them talk. The young scientist raised a black rose to Jinx and asked nervously "You got a da-ER I mean friend to go with to the Sadie Hawkins dance?". Jinx slapped her gray faced and groaned even louder. Suddenly a dark skinned teenager appeared behind Jinx and lightly tapped her shoulder. The young girl gasped a bit before seeing who it was. "Ah Stone, perfect timing" Jinx said cheerfully.

Julius frowned a bit, already seeing where this was inevitably going. Stone looked to the strange boy as Jinx introduced them "Julius meet Stone, my DATE for the dance, or in your case friend". Stone extended a hand to Julius, who reluctantly shook in return with his tight, vice grip like fingers. Stone gulped, fearing Julius might notice the metallic feel to his handshake. The last thing Cyborg needed was to blow his cover over a simple greeting.

"Nice grip you got there Jules" Stone said nervously, Julius raised an eyebrow "It's Julius and thanks, yours is quite……interesting". Seeing this was getting awkward, Jinx grabbed Stone's arm tenderly and dragged him off. Julius yanked on the girl's dark dress before she left, and cautiously whispered "Do you trust him?". Jinx blinked "What? What kind of a question is that?", the boy sternly repeated himself "Do you trust Stone?".

The girl yanked her shoulder away from the boy, as if repulsed by the question. "That's none of your business" Jinx snapped. But the dark boy persisted "I'm just saying something feels off about him, you can never be too careful". In a fit of rage, Jinx grabbed Julius by his dark coat and yanked his face towards hers. The pink haired vixen coldly replied "I don't recall needing you to tell me who to date, I can take care of myself geek boy".

SLAP!

Black metallic knuckles smashed across Jinx's hands, Scarab quickly appeared and knocked Jinx off of Julius. "Who the hell do you think you are, talking to him like that?" Scarab asked. Rubbing her gray skinned wrists, Jinx just as angrily answered "I am so not in the mood for you now Scarab". The bug warrior smirked "Forgive me if I don't gush over your meaningless feelings, but I'm not sure your one to talk, speaking to Julius in such a tone.

He DESERVES your respect and I'm not gonna sit there and let some walking fashion disaster bad mouth him". Stone immediately tried to hold Jinx back, but the rage boiling in her blood was too hot to handle. Jinx and Scarab glared hatefully into each other's, seething, scorn soaked eyeballs, passionate anger strongly brewed in their bodies. "You want a piece of me bug butt?" Jinx said, "Anytime any place skank hag" Scarab shouted back.

Jinx growled"FINE! Three hours from now, you, me, and the HIVE combat practice arena".

Scarab laughed"Sounds just peachy to me pinky, it'll be my pleasure putting you and that horrid sense of fashion of yours out of everyone's misery".

Jinx smirked"We'll see about that, you better believe we'll see about that".

To be continued……