Kyd continued to pace his cell, coming back and picking at a very particular grid inside of it. There was just one small square- one little space with a crack in it. If he could just find something sharp enough, he could rip into it, open it up and reveal the wires behind all of the power-dampening technology.

He hated this cell. He hated the feeling of being without his powers. What was he without them? Just an ugly, snarky teenager with a bad attitude.

With his powers- at least all of his damage was good damage, he got it for a reason. He couldn't process social cues, he couldn't go out in public during the day most times, he couldn't walk into a medical office without blacking out.

But he could teleport.

Win-win.

There were three light, gentle knocks on the bars that separated him from the hallway. He turned, and just past them, still thrumming with energy from the tech-

Was the stupid, annoying, accident-prone blonde that landed him back in here in the first place.

Kyd glared as venomously as he could manage, curling up his lip to show one of his teeth.

The blonde gave him a small smile and a too excited wave. The kind you got from preschoolers who were meeting fish for the first time. It's like Kyd could see his bad attitude bouncing off of the blonde.

Kyd deepened his sneer.

The blonde's face fell drastically, eyes wide and confused and shoulders deflated in disappointment. Kyd felt a small pang of guilt at that. He couldn't help it, he'd never met someone so expressive before. The blonde seemed so innocent, so new and curious and untouched in the hero-villain game. It made Kyd almost want to protect him from it, somehow.

It was annoying.

What do you want? Kyd spoke loud and clear in the blonde's mind. Come to gloat?

The blonde gasped, and frantically backed up, holding his crown. He looked around and then to Kyd, absolutely petrified look on his face.

He held his hands in a cross in front of them, swiping them apart and putting them back violently.

Tears grazed those huge, expressive eyes. Don't! Don't! Don't do that again! He looked angry.

He started breathing heavily, shaking. For a moment Kyd thought to worry that maybe he was having a panic attack. Did heroes get those?

Kyd didn't know what his instinct was to not be quite as mean to the blonde as he was to his teammates was for, or where it came from. But regardless, he found himself clutching the bars and kneeling down a bit to the hero's height.

"Hey- hey- I won't do it again- I won't." He spoke softly. Sometimes he forgot how scratchy his voice was. He couldn't imagine it was very comforting in the moment. The blonde was still panting but looked to him in a desperate way, pouting over at him with tears in his eyes still. "I promise. I won't do it again. I'm sorry. That's how I talk to- everyone. I didn't think-..."

The blonde sniffled a bit and wiped his eyes, crossing his arms. He was beginning to think it was a bad idea coming here, and a worse one not telling anyone.

He faced Wykkyd again, this time a little more cautious, and brought a hand to drag across his palm. How are you?

Wykkyd glared confusedly at his hands. "...What?"

Jericho sighed heavily, his arms dropping as he pouted.

"No- no, no, I understood you. I know ASL." Wykkyd clarified. "But- why are- what do you mean-"

Wanted to thank you. The blonde continued. Saved me.

Wykkyd sighed. He did that, didn't he? It was dumb.

Friends. Where? He signed, tilting his head.

Wykkyd flinched. "They're not my friends. They're my teammates. We're- I-" He faltered for a moment, getting his bearings. "...Your friends stole mine. Our leader's gone, so we fell apart. I tried my luck just doing heists on my own. Look where that got me."

The blonde pouted, looking to the ground sadly. I'm sorry.

Wykkyd sighed, sitting on the ground with his head in his hands. He didn't know why he was even telling the rookie hero this anyway. Maybe some part of him was desperately hoping he'd recognize that description. He'd know the name Jinx. He'd- he'd tell her she was wrong, she should go home, to her family, tell her all about the people she hurt.

He'd tell her what a pathetic loser her former friend had become.

He looked up again when he felt the blonde gently nudging his knee through the bars, sat directly across from him and looking to him sorrowfully. He pulled a small book and a pen from his tunic, sliding it through the bars.

No friends for a long time. He signed. Friends now but still alone. People everywhere. Lonely.

He smiled brightly, and Kyd got the idea that maybe he was much too used to forcing a smile on his face. Made friends, instead. Stories. Poems. Songs. You can too.

Kyd took a moment to hold the notebook to his chest. This one was...he was different. This annoying blonde was more empathetic than most of his team had ever been. He didn't demonize Kyd. He...looked like he genuinely wanted to help, for whatever reason.

"What's your name?" He rasped.

The boy signed a J, then an E, and went on for a bit.

"Jericho…" Kyd spoke gently. "...Thank you, Jericho. But, don't you want to keep the things already in here? What about your songs and poems?" Why did Kyd care? Why was he entertaining him? Something in his sad smile made Kyd want to know more about him.

Jericho smiled softly, shaking his head. Used to being lonely. You are not. You need it more.

Kyd huffed at the thinly veiled joke.

Jericho stood up, dusting off his tunic from the ground before he jumped at the sound of his communicator. He promptly opened it up, and Kyd heard Robin already asking him where he was.

Jericho promptly shut the communicator with a huff, getting ready to leave.

"...They didn't know you were here with me?" Kyd asked, bewildered.

Jericho seemed flustered all of a sudden, shrugging his shoulders and kicking at the ground. Saved me. Not them.

Kyd got the sudden idea that...maybe Jericho wasn't actually happy, with his new friends. He seemed lost, pressured. He spoke about being alone so long…

He probably expected a lot from his new friends. They probably weren't living up to it.

"Will I see you again?" Kyd blurted. He flushed. This is why he didn't speak anymore. It didn't matter, Kyd would be long gone before Jericho even made it back to their tower.

Jericho piped up and got a dangerously hopeful glint to his eyes. Do you want to?

Kyd gulped, not saying anything and simply glaring at the boy.

Jericho smiled, reaching through the bars again to squeeze Kyd's hand in goodbye. Maybe. You like guitar?

Kyd watched him go for a moment, thinking about his last comment. He at least had the decency to wait until Jericho was out of earshot to promptly slam the pen into the broken grid, yanking open the panel.

Kyd gently placed the notebook in a small pocket dimension Kyd kept some of his more sentimental items in.

Jericho had pretty handwriting. All curly and gentle and small. Not like Kyd's, Kyd wrote like a baby holding a pen for the first time, all clunky and mishappen and riddled with dyslexic marks.

Joseph was written in the notebook, on one of the further pages. It was everywhere once he flipped through it. Joseph, Joseph, Joseph. Kyd obsessed over that name, for whatever reason.

It rolled off the tongue perfectly. It was written so gently, in Jericho's pretty writing.

Jericho was weird.

A good weird. Like Jinx was.

Not all there. Questioning. Open.

He dropped the pen into the pocket dimension later, too. It was dented and had barely any ink left and said 'Jump County Bank' on it, but he felt the need to keep it. It felt important.