Author's Notes: Happy Fourth of July! As it turned out, I had some time free this morning, and so I wrote this. It was kind of rushed, though, so I hope it's still good. I forgot to answer some comments, though, so er, just give me a moment and I'll do that. Hiring a stunt driver does seem like a good idea, or having Jinx send a car flying into the side of a nearby building, but I figured at least a time bomb would get them (the guards) outside so that Billy could distract them. Yeah, I made Jinx jeopardize the mission. I love the girl, but she's not perfect. It's not that I want to end the fanfic, it's just that after this and a few more chapters, there really isn't much left to write. I'm writing this from "Lightspeed" to "Titans Together", and so I have to end right before Kid Flash and Jinx show up at the final showdown between the Brotherhood and the Teen Titans (and honorary Titans). After that, well, the television series covers it. Whew! That was a lengthy response. Alrighty, well, here's the story. Criticism is still appreciated.
Disclaimer: "Teen Titans" and "Impulse" are not mine, but I know I'll get sued if I don't state that obvious fact.
Jinx awoke the morning after the robbery and a single thought entered her mind. "We actually did it." She smiled, glancing over at the box on the other side of her room. She walked over to it and opened the box. An eerie blue-green glow came from it. "Well…that's…stereotypical," Jinx thought to herself. She thought chemicals only glowed like that in the movies. Satisfied with what she saw, she closed the box and walked to the living room. She sat down on a couch and turned on the morning news. There was Mary Wolfram with the latest story.
"Hi, I'm Mary Wolfram, and today we have an exciting story. Impulse, the newest and fastest villain alive, was caught last night at the Jump City Scientific Research Facilities while trying to steal an unstable chemical that could be used for who knows what purposes. Local police were able to catch Impulse and put him behind bars at the Jump City Correctional Facilities late last night, but he was reported to be unconscious when they found him. So, who stopped Impulse last night? It appears that Jump City has a new hero."
Jinx's eyes widened in fear. "No…" she thought. "I thought all the cameras were off. I am going to kill See-More and Kyd Wykkyd if…"
Security footage showed Jinx firing a hex at Impulse, and the villain falling down. Then she hit him over the head with the box and the screen went blank.
"This is all the footage we could find," Mary Wolfram continued. "It does appear that this mysterious pink-haired witch is fighting for the good guys. We can only hope that the pink-haired wonder appears again when Jump City needs her."
"What!" Jinx screamed, probably waking up every member of the Hive Five. "No!" Why didn't they say anything about the chemical still missing? Why couldn't they have shown the rest of the footage, when Jinx walked out of the room with the box? "That's it," she thought, her mind filled with fury and her fists clenched to the point where her nails were digging into her skin. "I am going to that prison right now and I am going to ask Impulse or Kid Flash, or whatever it is he calls himself a few things."
She opened her dresser and sorted through all her black and purple outfits to find a pair of denim cropped pants and a solid light pink t-shirt. She pulled on a pair of socks and her sneakers. She decided to put her hair into a ponytail. No one was going to recognize her today.
"What brings you here to the prison, little missy?" a guard asked Jinx.
"I'm, uh, here to visit somebody," she said quietly.
"Name?"
"Um, my name is Megan Grey," Jinx lied, completely making up the name on the spot.
"Which criminal?"
"Impulse," she said.
"Ah, okay. Jinx, you don't need to use that fake name," the guard said, smiling. Before she could say anything, he took her by the arm and brought her to a cell at the end of the hallway.
"Thank you," she said to the guard, who began to walk off. "Hello, Impulse," she said darkly to the figure dressed in black.
"Aw, hey, Jinx, what's up?" he responded, as though he didn't have a care in the world. "You look nice today."
"How did you know I was coming?" she asked, angry, but masking her happiness that came from his compliment.
"Oh, well, some things in life are very predictable."
"Nevermind. Listen, I need to ask you a few things," Jinx said solemnly. "And if you don't answer me truthfully, I will murder you."
"Okay, gotcha." Even with death threats, the guy still sounded so carefree.
"Question one: why are you still here?"
"Well, I gotta stay here until some trial thing takes place."
"I don't mean that! I mean, you can pass through walls. Especially bars. So why are you here?"
"Oh, well, it'd be rude to leave during this little interview, now wouldn't it?"
"You're an idiot. Fine, fine, question two: why didn't the news this morning talk about the missing chemical?"
"What missing chemical?"
"I mean the one I have at headquarters that isn't at the research center anymore."
"Oh, right. Are you familiar with the term 'decoy'?"
"Are you kidding me?" Jinx almost shouted.
"Nope. You know, you shouldn't leave newspaper on benches. You have no idea who will pick it up next."
Jinx stared at innocent blue eyes in shock. "You knew? You planted a decoy? Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to get that?"
"Yup," he responded, paying no attention to her last question. "And then I edited the camera footage so it looked like you took me out."
"Edited? How could you edit it? You were knocked out!"
"I was? Wow, my acting skills must be better than ever."
"If it wasn't for these bars here, I would strangle you," Jinx growled, looking serious as ever.
"You'll thank me later," he smirked.
"And that was your plan to convert me to heroics? You were going to force me!"
"Jinx, Jinx…before you get ready to kill me, think about what you've said before. You wanted respect. Well, I think a person would get more respect as a hero than a villain."
"Oh? Well then what about you, Mr. I'm-so-bad-now?"
"The Brotherhood would never take me in. I just told you that so you'd fall into my trap, and you did."
Jinx wanted to hit herself over the head. He was right. She didn't ask him for proof. She just figured that he wouldn't lie to her like that. "Next time he says anything," she thought, "I'm putting him through a lie-detector test…seven of them."
"Well, the public still thinks you're bad," she said, knowing fully well that if he went back to being Kid Flash, everyone would love him again.
"No, not really," he said calmly. "They know Impulse is bad. People, for some reason, can't tell the difference between Impulse and Kid Flash. It's actually kind of funny. I tipped off the cops and the Teen Titans about this before I even started. I'm returning everything I 'stole' anyway. My apartment is really getting too cluttered for all that stuff."
"You went through all that trouble, and for what?"
"For you. I…I…" he found the words struggling to be freed from his mouth. "I care about you. Being with the Brotherhood…I don't think you'd really see it as what you think it is."
"And so what? You're trying to save me like I'm some damsel in distress?" Jinx's eyes were glowing pink. She didn't care if she was in civilian clothing. She would kill whoever that superhero/villain was if he continued to torment her like this.
"I…am going now," she said, her voice steady and bitter. "I am joining the Brotherhood, just to spite you and your stupid plan." She turned and walked away.
"No! Jinx, don't!" he yelled. "You're making a huge mistake!"
Jinx started to run. She ran past the guard at the front desk and ran out of the prison and back to headquarters. She was going to get even.
Impulse sighed behind the bars. "Gary?" he called out.
"Yeah, KF?" a guard called back, now walking towards the teenage speedster's cell.
"I think I'll need my uniform back," he said calmly.
"No problem," the guard said. He returned several minutes later with a skin-tight yellow and red suit.
"Thanks." The guard walked away and Impulse changed within seconds. Kid Flash diffused through the bars of the cell and sprinted out of the prison, heading back to his apartment. He would have a lot of returning to do.
More Author's Notes: Kid Flash is back! Rejoice! And his plan was pretty much revealed in that chapter, so I hope you guys were paying attention, heh.
