Giving Yourself

A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald

Standard Disclaimers Apply. I don't own Teen Titans.

Chapter Six

As Mammoth landed and let Private HIVE go so he could charge the two Titans, Gizmo unleashed a barrage of mini-missiles. Raven quickly summoned a shield to protect them, then expanded it into a blast of force as the military buff HIVE member attacked her.

Private HIVE was thrown back into what was left of the corner of the room, and Raven turned her attention to the hulking Mammoth. He came down at her with a heavy punch, and it was all she could do to grab Roy and duck out of the way. They landed in a heap and Mammoth chuckled.

"What's wrong, Speedy? Can't fight? Have to hide behind a girl?"

Roy gasped as Raven stood up in front of him again, "Actually, Mammoth… yeah."

"Just pound 'em, Snot Burglar!" Gizmo shouted as he descended from the sky.

"That's enough from you." Raven scowled at him and thrust a hand out. The form of a black talon reached up at the genius midget and he quickly swooped out of the way.

Even as she was turning her attention back to Mammoth, he reached out and swatted her across the room, where she landed with a thud and a grunt of pain. The huge genetic mutant stepped up to Roy and grinned down at him, "Why so helpless?"

"I've been sick." Roy grimaced and tried to get to his feet, "I bet I can still take ya' though, Mammy."

"Heh." Private HIVE was getting to his feet as well, "He called you Mammy."

Mammoth slapped Roy back to the ground with a growl of anger.

The red haired archer had bought Raven time though, and she was back on her feet with her eyes burning white. She reached out her hands and shouted, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" As she did, every single piece of rubble and brick from the decimated building was surrounded in a halo of black energy. They all jumped up suddenly and started pelting into Mammoth's face harder than a major league baseball pitcher could throw. The giant stumbled as he was assaulted, until his feet were at the edge of the room, with no wall behind him.

"See you latter, Mammoth." Roy grinned as Raven pulled the couch from in the living room and hurled it at her enemy. It plowed Mammoth off the edge of the building, and he plummeted to the street below.

Private HIVE charged in at Raven, yanking out a tazer stick as he went. Roy quickly rolled over and threw his legs out, tripping the other young man and making him fall on his face. Raven pounced forward and slammed both knees into his head, knocking him out soundly.

"Forget about me, Titan scum?" Gizmo shouted as he flew down at them. Another barrage of mini-missiles was launched, and Raven wasn't able to get a shield up in time. The two Titans watched with wide eyes as the rockets drew nearer…

And exploded in mid-air, just before they would have impacted. Both of them were blown back into the living room, but were otherwise unharmed.

"What the hell happened?" Gizmo looked about, "The shot was dead on!"

A wave of pink surged around his jet pack for a moment, and it shut down. The small teen shouted in alarm as he fell to the bedroom. He struggled to get up, and almost made it before a black platform boot slammed into his head. He grunted and fell back down.

"Hi Jinx." He muttered.

"Hey Giz." She grinned, "I've been looking for you guys."

"Yeah. We know."

"Then you know why I've been after you." She ground her foot down into his head and he made a noise of pain as she grinned, "You have something of mine. Give it back."

Gizmo grumbled under her foot, but knew better than to anger her any further. Reaching into a pouch, he pulled out an almost new looking T-Comp and handed it to her. Jinx took, and tucked it into a pocket.

"Thank you." She said, then raised her foot and stomped on his head, slamming it into the floor and knocking him out. The pink haired witch turned to Raven and Roy and grinned, "Titans to the rescue!" she cheered. Taking in their state of dress and shocked expressions, she lost her grin, "Um… we are still Titans, right?"

"Jinx…" Raven slowly stood up, "The Titans haven't seen you since we gave you the com. We thought you'd gone to a civilian life or something."

"Eh." Jinx shrugged, "I've been abroad." She waved off to the east, "Europe mostly. Seeing the world, soul searching, that kind of stuff. If these three dweebs hadn't stolen my T-Comp, I would be in Rome right now, egging the Vatican."

"Jinx…" Roy rubbed his eyes, "If your communicator gets stolen, you have to report it to Robin so he can change the frequencies. If you don't, then our enemies can find us anywhere."

"Oh." Jinx's cheeks colored slightly, "I'll, uh… keep that in mind."
"You do that." Raven rolled her eyes and looked around the ruined apartment. "We're going to need a new place to stay." Walking back to Roy, she sat down next to him and placed a hand on his cheek, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, all things considered." Roy smiled at her and grasped her free hand. He had a light cut on his temple, and it trickled blood down the side of his face. His smile washed away her fears though, and his hand in hers made her heart pump twice as fast.

"Um…" Jinx spoke up again, and they turned back to her. She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "I've got a hotel room… you can crash there tonight… though, you know… there is that nice big Tower down on the coast…"

"We can't go back to the Tower right now." Raven replied, "Though your offer does sound nice… if we wont be imposing too much-"

"Not at all." Jinx cut her off with a genuine smile, "I've missed having friends around."

"Then let's go." Raven motioned her over, "Help me gather some stuff, then I'll teleport us there."

It was almost midnight by the time Raven collapsed into a chair in the living room area of the two-room suit Jinx had rented at the nicest five-star hotel in Steel City. She was wearing fresh clothes, jeans and a black t-shirt, and had forgone shoes and socks as she had been for the past several weeks while taking care of Roy. Looking around at the opulence she winced and rubbed her neck, "Mammoth hit me really hard."

Jinx walked in from the small kitchen area with two glasses and a bottle of wine. She was wearing loose black silk pajama pants, and a red tank top with spaghetti straps. Her feet were bare, and she'd pulled the bands that held her hair up out, letting it fall down around her face in a pretty manner. "It's what he's good at." She replied, then sat the two glasses down on the coffee table, sat herself down on the couch, and filled them from the bottle. Motioning for Raven to take one, she picked up the other and sipped it.

"I haven't had wine in years." Raven smiled lightly and picked up her glass, sipping it and smiling, "This is good."

"Came with the room." Jinx grinned and folded her legs underneath herself.

"How do you afford all of this?" Raven waved a hand around.

Jinx's grin grew downright devilish, "I took a little cash with me when I quit the HIVE. Just over twenty million."

Raven blinked at her, "You stole twenty million dollars from one of the largest criminal organizations in the world?"

"Yep." Jinx nodded and took another sip of her wine.

Raven shook her head, "You're a menace."

"That I am." Jinx sat up a little straighter, "Now tell me what's going on with you and Speedy."

"It's not really something I can talk about…"

"Oh, come on. We're both Titans here, right?"

"Jinx…"
"Call me Jenny."

Raven started and looked at her in a questioning manner, "Um… okay… huh."

"What?"

"I never would have thought that you'd just come out and tell me your real name like that."

"Oh. Well, it's no big deal. I haven't been that cute little girl with pink hair and pink eyes for a while now." Jinx shrugged, "So? What's going on?"

"Speedy… Roy, I mean… he got into some pretty bad stuff. Drugs mostly. I've been helping him come through heroin withdrawal."

"Oh, shit…" Jinx grimaced, "That had to be hard."

"It wasn't easy, no." Raven sipped her wine before continuing, "Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course." Jinx smiled, "I wont even tell any of the other Titans. Not that I see them that much…"

Raven looked suddenly nervous, "I uh… over the past few days… while he's been getting better… I uh…"

Jinx's smile grew, "You're falling for him, aren't you?"

Raven nodded miserably.

"Oh come on, Raven!" the pink haired girl laughed, "Cut the whole emotionless bitch thing for a few minutes and admit that you like being in love."

"Fine, fine…" Raven smiled a little, "It just scares me, you know? Love is new to me… an emotion I've never dealt with like this before."

"You just have to feel it." Jinx said with a firm nod, "Feel it and let it expand until you can't take it any more. Enjoy it, Raven. Not everyone finds someone they can be happy with."

Raven chuckled lightly, "It's funny… you and I talking like this…"

"We haven't ever really gotten along have we?" Jinx smiled back at her, "Us girls have to stick together for things like this though. Goddess knows boys are no help…"

Raven laughed at that, and downed the rest of her wine glass.

The next day, Roy woke to find sunlight streaming into the room he'd been sleeping in. Sitting up, he looked around, and saw Jinx curled up in an arm chair next to the bed, reading a book. She looked up at him and smiled in a friendly manner, "Hey, Speedy. How are you?"

"Thirsty." He rasped in reply. Jinx reached to the bedside and picked up a full glass of water, which she handed to him. Roy downed it all in just a few seconds. Wiping his mouth, he eyed her. She was still wearing her pajamas from the night before, and he found the casual look of her hair disturbing, "Where's Raven?"

"Apartment hunting. She said she wanted a place where no one could find the two of you while you finish recovering." Jinx sat the book aside and leaned over the bed, placing a hand on his forehead, "You feel a little warm."

"I'm fine." He started to push her away, but she shoved his shoulder roughly, and he fell back to the bed, finding he wasn't strong enough to resist.

"You're a wreck." Jinx shook her head, "Look, Roy… can I call you Roy?"

"Sure." He blinked at her.

Jinx continued, "Raven… she's really worried about you. And she should be. You have a lot of recovering to do. You're body's trashed after what you put it through."

"You sound like you know what I'm going through…"

"I don't really…" Jinx smiled at him in sad kind of way, "But you know… I've robbed banks of millions and blown up buildings and stuff… I'm not one to pass judgment."

"I guess." Roy smiled back at her, but his grin faltered after a moment, "Did Raven… talk about… the two of us last night?"

"You mean you and me?" Jinx blinked, confused.

"No… did she talk about her and me and our… relationship."

"What you mean to say is, 'Did she tell you she's in love with me?'"

"Uh…" Roy blushed a little, "Yeah, I guess."

"Girls don't betray secrets like that, Roy." Jinx grinned.

He grinned back, "So she did, huh?"

"Did what?"

Both of them jumped and looked over to the doorway to see Raven standing there, an annoyed look on her face. She stepped into the room and walked to the bed, where she leaned down and checked Roy's temperature by placing a hand on his cheek, "You're still a bit warm. Your fever might be coming back."

"I'm fine." Roy rolled his eyes, "I just woke up, okay?"

"Fine." Raven straightened, "Now, if you two are done talking about me behind my back, I'd like to take Roy to our new apartment."

"Found one that fast, huh?" Jinx arched an eyebrow.

Raven nodded, "Let's go, Roy. Up and at 'em."

Roy slowly pulled himself from the bed, "How much is it costing you? I can try to get some cash from Ollie to help pay for it…" he trailed off as Raven whipped out a debit card and grinned. Showing him the name on it, she laughed in an evil manner, "What Dick doesn't know won't hurt him!"

"Well," Roy grinned back, "he won't know until the statement hits anyway. Then he'll wonder where all that money went. How'd you steal a debit card in his name anyway?"

"I didn't. I just opened an account. You'd be surprised what you can do with someone's social security number and a few phone calls." Raven tucked the card away, "Though he might wonder where fifty thousand of the Unexpected Mission Resources Fund went to…"

"You filled an account with Titan money, put it in Dick's name, and sent him the statements?" Roy asked with an arched eyebrow, "Girl, that's cold."

"Who's Dick?" Jinx asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No one." Raven and Roy said together.

Jinx pouted, "You two are no fun."

The apartment was on the third floor of an old brownstone just south of the downtown area. It was much like the safe house apartment they'd been in, except it had no electronic locks, and no high-tech communication system built into it. It came fully furnished, which had cost a little extra, but Raven hadn't been concerned with the cost overly much.

"This is pretty nice." Jinx commented as she sat down one of the two bags Raven had salvaged from the safe house. "Just the two of you, huh?"

"No offense Jenny, but I think we need to be alone for this. You should head west… contact Robin. See what he has for you to do."

"Oh… um… I don't know…" Jinx waved her hands as Raven helped Roy settle onto the couch, "West is too close to Kansas for me…"

"What's in Kansas?" Raven asked, standing up and arching an eyebrow, one hand on a hip.

"Heh." Roy laughed a little, "Keystone City."

"So?" Raven looked between the two of them for a moment, then her eyes widened, "Oh! What happened between you and Kid Flash?"

"We sorta… um…" Jinx shook her head, "I'll tell you some other time."

Roy rolled his eyes, "That means it's a girl thing. Go ahead and chat… I'm gonna take a nap." He stood up slowly, swatting Raven's hands away, "I'm doing okay, Rae. I can make it."

"Just be careful. Don't push yourself too much yet." Raven looked concerned, but Roy just put a hand on the side of her face, and smiled. She watched as he hobbled off to the bedroom and shut the door.

"One bedroom, huh?" Jinx giggled in her ear.

"Shut up." Raven turned on her and smiled a wicked smile, "You have no room to talk, little miss I'll-tell-you-later."

"How do you do stuff like that?" Jinx's mouth fell open.

"I'm an empath." Raven made a stupid face, "Duh."

"Now I remember why I was always trying to curse you into oblivion."

"Whatever. So you slept with Kid Flash, it got weird, and you ran away to Europe?"

"Pretty much." Jinx sighed and flopped down in a chair, "He deserves better than a bad luck charm like me."

Raven smiled kindly, "You've been pretty good to Roy and I. Thank you."

Jinx smiled back, "Yeah. I feels good, being good." She stood up suddenly, "So I guess I'm headed out to Jump again. I'll see you around, Raven."

"Aren't you going to stay in town another night or two? I was hoping you could stay with Roy while I tried to find a job."

"Why are you looking for a job?" Jinx laughed a little, "You have a ton of money."

"That's Titan money. I don't want to spend it if I don't have to."

"Whatever." Jinx waved as she walked to the door, "He'll be fine, and the two of you will be kissing and making babies before too long. I'm not sticking around to see that."

Raven just laughed, "We'll see about that."

"I'll see you in Jump, Raven." And Jinx walked out the door, shutting it behind her.

Raven sighed, picked up a newspaper off the coffee table that she'd bought, and flipped to the want ads.