Under the Rose
Chapter 13
There was nothing left in her that would take pleasure in a petty store theft. He had made sure of that, with all his talk and all his kindness. She felt so bitter.
And so Jinx found herself back at Harding Hall instead, hating the way everything had suddenly unraveled, a relationship at its beginning destroyed.
How did that happen, when it was all finally back to the way it used to be?
Presenting...Jinx! Bad Luck Extraordinaire! She yanked her card through the security swipe and stormed up the stairwell, shooting daggers at a young man on his way outside.
Miranda and Elisa were in the dorm room watching TV when Jinx entered.
"Rose! Are you alright?" Miranda cried. Elisa stood from her bed and went over to her roommate, taking her purse for her and setting it on the desk. Miranda clicked off the TV.
"You had a date with Wally, right?" Ellie said. "Did it...did you fight?" She seemed confused.
"Did you break up?!" Miranda sounded about as anguished as Jinx felt.
"Yeah...it was bad... but--" Jinx's voice broke, "I kind of knew it wouldn't work out...it never does." Because of bad luck.
She said such stupid things. It was all her fault.
Of course he worked for his reputation. He was fighting so hard all the time. Jinx rubbed her temples, frustrated at herself. She was the one putting him in a dangerous position. She was the one that could ruin his reputation.
"God, I'm so stupid," Jinx muttered. She should have listened to his side of the story, instead of jumping ahead in anger. She should have had more faith in him. She needed to.
Guilt, regret, both were new feelings for Jinx. Villains said they were a sign of weakness. But right now Jinx decided that the two emotions were there so that you could feel your mistakes for awhile. And judging by how quick and strong they came...this was one monstrosity of a mistake on her part.
Jinx sniffled. "It's never felt so bad to have my pessimistic expectation proven right."
Miranda patted her shoulder. "Maybe it's because you didn't want to be right in the first place."
---------------------
He wasn't really conscious the whole walk home. He felt aimless, and slow, and leaden. Somehow he left the Pizza Place; somehow he crossed streets and sidewalks and grass quads to find his way to the dorm; somehow he was here in the room.
He went about every part of that conversation in every wrong way possible. And now she was gone. She was going to run again, and this time it was his fault.
She can't be convicted, she's earned her degree
Wally sat down at his desk, feeling more lost and alone than he had ever before felt. Andrew was playing guitar, sitting on his bed. He looked up. "What's wrong man?"
"Everything."
Blame it all on yourself 'cause she's always a woman to me
Blame it all on yourself...
---------------------
Jinx had to apologize to him. She got up and grabbed a jacket. "I have to go, now," she said to Ellie's curious look.
He would have been there, right beside her, if she had had the courage to go and confess. And she'd known that. Really. Jinx wanted to cry. Why was she so irrational, so illogical? Wally had been that strength behind her through this whole year, and then she just threw pens at his head and shouted. He was her good luck, and she still stubbornly thought that bad was all she had, when the whole time he was proving her wrong.
She had to tell him everything. She was going to tell him from the start everything that had happened these past three years up until now, and then she was going to listen to his story, no jumping to conclusions. She needed to tell him how much he meant to her, before it was too late.
Her roommate gave her sympathetic eyes. "At least let me walk with you," she offered.
Initially, the pink-haired sorceress felt some foreign hesitation at that. But she was done pushing people away. So Jinx looked at Ellie's earnest face and nodded. "That would be nice. In case...in case it doesn't go so well."
Jinx didn't like thinking of that possibility. Because she did have that feeling-- that something was about to go horribly wrong.
Elisa smiled at her. "Don't worry, it'll all work out," she said. "I know it will." With that she led Jinx into the night.
------------------------
The two girls walked in silence, letting the people walking the streets around them fill in the quiet with their conversations. Jinx saw a couple holding hands enter the Pizza Place and looked away.
Ellie returned from inside the restaurant. "He's not in there," she said.
"Thanks for checking," Jinx replied. She bunched her hands into fists, frustrated. "Let's check the dorms next."
Elisa nodded. "Let me text Brian and tell him to open the door for us. I don't think our keycard works on North Housing."
Jinx waited for a moment until Elisa's phone vibrated once more. She flipped it open, but Jinx couldn't read the message. "Let's go," the blond finally said.
They continued walking, Jinx more and more anxious by the minute. She fingered the buttons on her sweater, fiddled with the belt loops of her jeans.
He had to believe her. He was going to. It was all going to be fine.
"This way," Ellie said, pulling her towards an alleyway. Jinx looked at the dark shadows skeptically.
"Um, Elisa..."
But the blond girl just pulled her arm harder. "It's a shortcut."
Jinx sighed and walked into the shadows with her, deciding to be trusting for once. The two walked until they reached the wall at the end. A dead end.
"Ellie" Jinx said patiently, used to her roommate's navigation errors, " North Hall is still much farther that way." She turned, pointing in the opposite direction. "We have to go up the street more, and we should hurry--"
Suddenly all she saw was a field of flowers where the dumpster had been. "What on earth?" Jinx turned. "What's--"
And then there was a pain across her head, shooting stars in her vision, and all was black.
------------------------
Wally sighed and shut his laptop, forgetting about a paper not yet written. It was no use to try and do anything. No concentration. No motivation. She took all his spirit when she left.
She'll promise you more than the Garden of Eden
Then she'll carelessly cut you and laugh while you're bleeding
Why couldn't they have had a better song?
It was well past midnight now.
He was worried.
----------------------
She woke, woozy and sore and cold. Jinx blinked and held out her hands, touching something as cold as the ground beneath her. Bars.
She was in a cage. And Elisa was watching her with intense hatred, burning and startling.
But it wasn't Elisa Black anymore. It was a girl in a dark blue uniform, a jumpsuit of sorts with short orange sleeves and a large glinting belt. Her blonde hair was down, straight to her back.
"Where's the money?" the girl growled.
"Ellie?" Jinx rubbed the knot on the back of her head.
The girl just continued to glare at her in contempt. "We stole money from the bank and with my powers nobody could stop us, not even Flash...and then someone found it. I thought the bathroom ceiling was such a good hiding place too."
Why was her roommate-- her kind, sporty roommate-- looking so hateful and talking about money?
What was wrong with Ellie? Jinx looked pleadingly at her friend. But her friend had altered in appearance.
And then Jinx realized she knew that face. From long ago. From a life that seemed so separate from her own. The honey hair had suddenly turned much, much blonder, and the formerly hazel eyes...
The girl let her eyes glint tangerine in anger, and Jinx flashed back immediately to Hive Academy. To a fateful day in Advanced Combat.
"Elusion," she spat.
"That's right," the blond spat right back. "I want my money and I want my revenge."
Jinx laughed coldly. "You always were a sore loser. You can't have the money. It's gone." She smiled. "It's in much better hands than yours."
"No!" Elusion growled. "You have it, I know it!"
"I don't!" Jinx shouted. "Now let me go, Ellie."
"No!" she repeated. "Not until you pay for what you've done."
"And what have I done?" Jinx asked haughtily.
Elusion pointed a finger angrily. "You embarrassed me. You ruin my reputation as a villain, and then you turn against your own. You ran away, to that Kid Flash. And now you both are getting exactly what you deserve."
Jinx couldn't help it. She simply gaped at the girl before her. "So because of some stupid fight four years ago, and because I turned from crime-- a decision having absolutely nothing to do with you, you've decided to capture and kill me, as well as Kid Flash." It was mind blowing. Jinx wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. "No wonder Hive let you go," she mocked humorlessly.
Her (EX!) roommate narrowed her eyes at her. "Madame Rouge is quite persuasive," she replied. "The money, and a guaranteed spot in a reconstructed Brotherhood is payment enough for any respectable villain. And after all," she added indifferently, running her fingers along the back of the chair, "they always say revenge is a dish best served cold."
Jinx rolled her eyes, leaning her head against one of the cold iron bars of the cage. "Villainy 102. That's also the class where they tell you not to have friends in case they find your identity, betray you, steal your money, and kill you. Real sage advice there."
"Kind of like what you told your old team?" Elisa-- no, Elusion-- grabbed a small scrap of paper from a rickety side table in the room. "Guys: I've left for good this time. See-More's leader now. Stay out of trouble and don't look for me." She read the portion of Jinx's goodbye letter in a nasal, insincere voice. She smiled at Jinx's horrified look. "Who do you think told us all about you? How do you think you got me as a roommate? Coincidence?!" she sneered. "Even if you lost sight of true goals, they found some--they wanted to be in the New Brotherhood."
"New Brotherhood?" Jinx felt her insides go cold, but did not let her fear show in the least. "Led by Madame Rouge, no doubt," she added, in a voice just as heartless as her captor.
"Yes, that's right." Elusion checked her cell phone. "And she should be here soon." The blonde leaned in menacingly. "The first steps towards forming the New Brotherhood of Evil are in place. Madame Rouge just has to prove to the villains that heroes can be beaten."
"That's right." The big villainess herself entered the room to stand beside Elusion. "Good work," she said tersely, unfeelingly to Elusion, who looked up at her with sickening puppy eyes.
Was that really me, so long ago? Jinx snorted, much to the blonde's anger. Madame Rouge gave her a cold stare. But Jinx found that Madame Rouge didn't really scare her so much anymore. She could beat her up three years ago; she could beat her up now. "This is stupid," Jinx said nonchalantly.
Bad choice. Rouge slipped her arm, stretched it through the cage so fast that Jinx didn't know it had happened until she was on the ground, cheek throbbing and red.
Elusion followed with a verbal assault. "Shut up!" she said. "The Brotherhood is reborn." She spread her arms wide, and, to Jinx's horror, from out of the shadows behind her came See-More, Gizmo, Wykkyd, Billy, and Mammoth. "And we're going to prove it by killing you and your little boyfriend."
-----------------
His roommate startled him out of his dark thoughts.
"Hey, Wally-- envelope came under the door for you."
Only Andrew could say something like that and make it sound perfectly normal. Like Wally always came back to the room in such a morose mood, and always flopped defeatedly into his desk chair, and then always waited for an envelope under the door.
Wally stood and picked up the creamy paper, hoping beyond all reason. The handwriting wasn't Jinx's. But still, maybe....
We have your unlucky Rose, Kid Flash-- Wally West. If you wish to see her alive again, come with the money to the drugstore. It would be a shame to see her die before you two got to make up.
-MR
Wally's hands shook with anger. He crumpled the paper in his fist, lightspeed fast so that it ripped.
The question in his head was not "what money?", or "why the drugstore?", or even "how do they know we had a fight?". The only question in his mind was how fast he could make it across campus. Milliseconds weren't enough. Nothing would be enough until he could take out all his fury on that Russian witch.
-------------------
-Silver Miracles
"Always a Woman to Me" by Billy Joel