Chapter 3:

UPDATED A/N: Sorry this was a slow update. I just recently came back from Florida and had not internet or compute whatsoever. I'm so happy to be back in my hometown and away from the heat! I was dying in Florida! Not to mention, the thunderstorms! I would have loved them if I didn't have to walk in the rain with my bag full of my precious books! Sigh, anyways, sorry if this was short. I'm trying to rewrite everything perfectly (or at least close to perfection). Seeing as in the original chapter, Miss M goes into Jinx's mind. Since the Team is in the dark about the Titans situation, I had to shorten it up a bit. I hope that for those of you who have read the original, the comparison is completely different (hopefully for the better).

"Blah" = talking

'Blah' = mindlink

Blah = thoughts

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN YOUNG JUSTICE OR TEEN TITANS! If I did, then I would be rich and live in a mansion. (Which is NEVER gonna happen any time soon!)

Just so you know, I'm writing this at 2:00 AM, so I'm not really reading this over, so forgive if there are any mistakes and if something doesn't make any sense, review about it! I'll probably end up re-reading this over tomorrow and changing stuff even though I posted it already.

Enjoy~!

"I have a bad feeling," Miss Martian stated as she dejectedly stirred the batter in the bowl. She decided to cook lunch and bake cookies for the newcomer, seeing as Jinx had not eaten for the past day.

"About her or the situation?" Artemis asked, also feeling suspicious about the newcomer.

"A little of both. There's something off about her, and there's definitely something those three are not telling us." Miss Martian narrowed down as she started forming little balls of dough onto the tray.

"We must trust our teammates judgement. We can only assume she is on the side of good until she proves otherwise." Aqualad states, sitting a meditating stance on the couch.

"I'm tired of all these secrets getting in the way of everything." Superboy grunts, crossing his arms over his chest.

"We must respect their privacy," Aqualad tells him, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "When they're ready, they'll tell us. They have to face their pasts themselves before asking for our help."

Artemis stared at the closed door with narrowed eyes. Something about the pink-haired sorceress looked familiar...

"D-disbanded?" Robin stuttered, his eyes widening. "What? Why?!"

"Well, let's see here," She snarked, lifting a hand and counting down her fingers. "Most of the world's villains are frozen in Paris. The ones that managed to get unfrozen are petty criminals that the police can now handle. And lastly, our one and only leader bailed on us and decided to play with the big leagues." With that, Jinx gave the Boy Wonder a pointed glare. "The world was no longer in danger of ending, and there was no need for the Teen Titans. We were only speeding up the inevitable."

"So what did the Titans do? After they were disbanded?" Speedy- er, Red Arrow- asked. Jinx scratched her head.

"Look, all the Titans decided it was better if we just started out fresh, so we all thought it was better to just cut ties and not say anything about what we wanted to do afterwards." Her shoulders slumped a bit as she remembered her last day as a Titan. "We were all just lost without a purpose. It upsets me how lost we all were. How vulnerable we were. I was even considering becoming a villain again."

Kid Flash gave her a troubled look. "What stopped you?" Kid Flash asked, trying not to show his panic.

Jinx's lips lifted into a fearless smirk. "Who said I was stopped?" Kid Flash concerned look dropped into a grave one.

"Jinx-"

"Calm down, Flash boy. It was a joke," Jinx laid on her back, trying to soften the pain growing from her wound. Why did she insist on leaving the bed? "Fortunately for you, I don't like to waste good efforts. Not after all the hard work you've done for me to become a hero, I wasn't going to let it all be for nothing." She stared up at the ceiling, her soft smile flipping over into a frown. "Raven suggested I go to an art college. I studied hard, submitted an application. I was supposed to start this fall." Jinx sighed, slinging her arm over her eyes. "No matter how normal I want to be, things like this happen to remind me just how abnormal I really am." She chuckled melancholy. "You can't escape your destiny..."

"Okay," Robin was trying to understand everything, letting it all sink in slowly. "So all of you decided to meet up when you noticed Titans were going missing. What happened then? Who met up with you guys?"

Jinx took her arm away from her face. "Unfortunately, the four of the five original Titans and I were the only ones who made it back to the Tower safely. That was when we were attacked in the Tower." She blew a stray piece of hair away from her face. "The same day you guys you found me in town."

"How'd you get here anyways?" Red Arrow asked.

"The Titans and I managed to escape on the T-Ship. We last a few hours before crash landing just outside of here. Sadly, we were always one short by the next hour." Jinx closed her eyes, biting down on her lip to stop herself from crying. She was still as prideful as when they left, never letting anyone see her cry. Not even the one person she did cry in front of before. She wiped away the stray tears from her eyes with the palms of her hands. "Those idiot Titans, they should have just let them take me."

"So they're after you? He's after you?" Robin questioned, standing up from his seat. Jinx peered up at him with one eye before opening both. A look of understanding passed between the two.

Jinx gave a tired smile. "So you've figured out?"

"The robots were a dead giveaway."

She nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess you can say he is after me." She leaned her head back on her pillow, covering her eyes with her arm once again. "But don't ask me what for. I'm just as clueless as you are."

"Okay, you've lost me. Who are we talking about?" Kid Flash inquired, unable to piece together all the information thrown at him. The two ignored him and continued on conversing as if everyone was already in on this shared secret.

"He was supposed to be dead," Jinx says without uncovering her eyes.

"Supposedly..." Robin mumbled, slowly remembering his short alliance with the man during Trigon's reign. He shook the thought away. "It doesn't make any sense. No offense, but what's so special about you? And why now?"

"Gee, none taken. Every girl loves to know that they're not special enough for a psycho maniac in a mask." Jinx retorted monotonously, her heart not even in the joke. "I do, however, have a hypothesis."

Robin lifted an eyebrow. "Which is?"

"I'm not saying it's possible, but with just enough willpower and strength, I can create enough bad luck to bring the world to its knees. It's never been tested, but I wouldn't say it's unreasonable. I wouldn't dare do it, though. That wide range of power can kill me." Jinx shrugged. "Maybe he wants me for that. And as we can all tell, he will stop at nothing until I am in his hands."

Robin opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by someone else.

"Wait, stop, stop!" Red Arrow stated, cutting in between the two. He glanced at them, his eyes going from Jinx to Robin.

"Don't forget about us clueless people here." Kid Flash added, standing beside Red Arrow, who both sported an agitated look from being left out.

Red Arrow crossed his arms over his chest. "Explain it clearly; who is hunting for Jinx?"

The two stayed silent for a moment, reluctant to answer. But the terrified looks in their eyes made their courage plummet into nothing. After what felt like an eternity of silence, Jinx took a deep breath, clearing her throat before answering the question.

"It's Slade. He's back."

R&R~!

~Superbluestar428