Chapter 9
I sat out on the front porch of the coffee shop I was to meet Jinx at. I glanced at my watch for the thousandth time. 7:50. I was supposed to meet her at 8, but I had been sitting here for almost an hour now. I had nothing better to do, I had figured. I sat there in my typical black outfit, my jacket had been left in the car.
I was staring down at my empty coffee cup, debating on when I was going to ask for a refill when a shadow passed its way over me. I looked up to see my long lost sister taking her seat across from me. She was no longer wearing her H.I.V.E. jumpsuit, but instead was in a pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt. Her hair was let down, and she was wearing a pair of sunglasses to hide her pink cat eyes. I immediately stood, made my way around the table, and pulled her into an embrace. We both stood there for the longest time, not saying anything, just holding each other. When we finally broke the hug, there was a single pink tear flowing down the side of Jinx' face, mirrored by a single clear one rolling down mine. We both sat down and just stared at each other for a long, awkward moment, neither of us knowing where to start. We made our way back to our respective sides of the table, and I motioned to the waitress about my empty cup.
"So…my brother's the legendary Silver Mane." she began.
I cringed at the name. "I left that title and that life 2 years ago, Jinx. I really hate to say it, but I have been fighting for the opposite side you have ever since then."
"Oh. What made you quit?" Her voice sounded hurt.
My shoulders shuddered.
"It's ok," she said, "you don't have to talk about it now."
I shook my head. "I was given a job to kill an infant, but I wasn't told."
One of Jinx' hands flew to her mouth, covering it in shock.
"When I found out, I slew my contractor. I spent many weeks after that rethinking what I did for a living, and I realized the error of my ways. I have been striving to make up for it ever since."
A tear was rolling down Jinx' cheek, and she looked as if Atlas's accursed burden had been dropped upon her shoulders.
She finally burst, and it all came flowing out of her.
"I didn't want to work for H.I.V.E. I didn't want to hurt anybody, I really didn't, but that damn collar…if I ever gave them trouble, they would use it to torture me, and I was punished when I returned home."
I placed my hands over hers, covering them protectively.
"I just want to start over," she sniffed, "I want to do it right this time."
I nodded at the girl. "Then we'll do it together."
She looked over at me, "What about the Titans?"
I shook my head, looking down. "The Titans and I," a long pause settled before I spoke again. "The Titans are back to a team of five."
Another tear made its way down my face.
Jinx gave me a confused look
I looked across the table, into her girlie sunglasses, and the pink eyes hidden behind them.
"They threw me out."
Jinx blinked. "Why?"
"It was my past. Th-They don't see people as being able to change."
My gaze left her eyes, and traveled the streets, and the line of shops and buildings along their edges. I had a stern look of determination on my face.
"I'm not giving up on this city just yet, though."
Jinx gave me a weird look. "Even though the city gave up on you?"
I winked back at her. "The city never gave up on me, only the Titans. This city is my redemption, and, if you'll join me, maybe it can be yours as well."
Jinx let her eyes wander around the streets we sat beside.
"Let me get used to not being on the other side, first, then maybe me and you'll do what we can for the people of this city."
I smiled knowingly at my little sister. "Well, I'm in the market for somewhere new to lay my head at night, how about you?"
She nodded. "Someplace dry to sleep tonight would be very nice."
"…………"
"I had to sleep in the forest outside of the city last night." she explained.
I smiled, and stood, leaving enough money on the table to cover the bill for both me and my sister, plus some for a little bit of a tip, and we made our way back to where I had parked my car.
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The alarm went off in the Tower.
Cyborg was the first one to the computer terminal. It was another attack on a research facility. He already had directions on how to get there by the time the rest of the team showed up. After informing the rest of the team, he turned and grabbed a handful of paper off the printer. It wasn't until the rest of the team had already taken off for their destination that he realized he had printed off two copies of directions. One for himself, and one for…
He knew he didn't have time for that right now. He shook his head, crumpled the paper, and tossed it towards the trash. It bounced off the edge and hit the ground. He didn't have the heart to pick it up again, so he left it sitting there.
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Jinx and I made it to the "bad" end of the town, somewhere where we could find a place to stay, somewhere inexpensive, somewhere away from the prying eye of the public.
I walked into one run down apartment building after another, finally finding one that appealed to me. I haggled the price with the toothless old man behind the desk, and finally got him down to the price I wanted. Jinx looked depressed, but I was used to places like this. Things like that came with my first line of work.
I looked around the little 3 room apartment that had just become our home. It needed some work, but it would do.
Jinx walked into one of the two rooms, claimed it as hers, and flopped down on the small bed. She sat there, almost looking shell shocked.
I gave her a confused look.
"I've always lived at the quarters back with H.I.V.E., I've never lived somewhere like this before. It's kind of depressing."
I smiled at her, walked over, hugged her again, and told her we'd fix it up to be the best place on this side of the town.
She smiled slightly at that, and squeezed me tight.
"Don't leave me again," she whispered.
I pulled her closer, protectively.
A moment passed, and we released each other. I made my way back out to my car, and brought in my things. It was then that I realized that my sister hadn't brought a thing of her own. I questioned her about it when I made it back up to our place. She informed me that all of her things she had left behind at the academy. She didn't want to see that place again, much less try to get back inside after she had run away from there.
The answer was blindingly clear.
"Let's get you down to the mall, then," I said.
A smile lit her face. It had been ages since she could just go shopping.
We walked back out to my car, and started out on our 'adventure'.
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Robin spoke into a communicator built into his helmet as he roared along the streets towards the research center.
Starfire, hook up with Beast Boy, you two come in from above, there should be some skylights you can drop through. Cyborg, you and I will go in the front, Raven, you take Ryk and go around to the West entrance, he can cover you up close.
Raven's voice: "Ummm…Robin?"
Robin swallowed. "Umm…change of plans, I'll go around with you Raven, Cy, you've got the front doors."
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My sister and I arrived in due time at the local mall. I handed her my card, and sent her on her way. I made my way over to the music shop, browsing through the latest releases.
Almost five hours later, my phone rang. I answered it to the sound of Jinx' cheery voice. She had finished her shopping, and was ready to head home. I told her to meet me by the food court, and began meandering that way.
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Cyborg stomped to his room, Robin sulked through the hallways, and Starfire, of all people, crashed in front of the television, watching the afternoon news. They hadn't been fast enough, and the team from the H.I.V.E. had already been and gone by the time they arrived. It was a fast strike, nobody expected it. They had already been on their way out when the alarm had been sounded.
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I waved to the news crew as I walked out of the mall. They were doing some sort of a 'lifestyles' shoot there, and today was on how different teenagers spent their lives.
I reached into my pocket, pulling out my keys, and searched the parking lot around me, trying to remember where I parked. Jinx laughed at my predicament. I hit the lock button on my key fob, and the car chirped. I smirked back at the pink haired girl next to me, and walked towards my beautiful car, pressing the auto start button.
Whir Whir Whir VROOO…BOOOOOOOOOM
My car turned into an instant fireball. My mouth dropped open, staring at the burning hulk. My black clad body turned towards my sister behind me, and caught sight of a figure on the roof.
"Get back inside!" I shouted, and literally carried my sister back into the building. The figure turned and left as I got close to the building, and a harsh string of cursing met my ears. It I didn't know the person, but I knew the style. So they had finally found out I was here, and they were here to collect the bounty on my head. I knew they would find me eventually, but it was here in this city that I had planned to make my stand, and here in this city I would prove to the underground that I was not a force to be taken lightly. I had to be the best, because eventually, the best would come for me.
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Beast Boy walked back into the main room.
He immediately opened with a joke. "Hey Star, what do you get when…"
Starfire was nowhere to be seen. The window, however was left wide open. His eyes traveled to the TV that had been left on, and gasped. On the screen was a live shot of a burning car. An all to familiar black RX-8.
"R-Robin," he said, "ROBIN!"
The boy wonder walked back into the room.
"What's up?"
His eyes followed the stare of the little elf, and a gasp of disbelief flew from his mouth.
He immediately hit the alarm, calling the other Titans to the main room.
Beast Boy's glazed stare turned towards the boy wonder.
"Star's already gone," he mumbled.
Robin sprung into action. "Beast Boy, you stay here and let Cy and Rae know where we are, I'm going after Star, she could be in trouble."
The changeling nodded, and Robin ran for the elevator, and from there to the garage.
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I pushed my way through the crowd in the mall, hoping to get lost in the crowd. Jinx was being drug along behind me by her wrist. She never so much as complained, but scampered along behind me as fast as she could manage. We pushed through the mall, running out the exit on the far side, ran across lines of traffic, and disappeared into the dark alleys of the area.
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Starfire flew at supersonic speeds through the sky, the sound of the wind whipping by her was so loud that it rattled her to the bone, the air tearing at her hair and body. She flew faster than she had ever in her life, rushing towards the mall. She could see a plume of black smoke up ahead. She pushed herself even harder, trying to get just a little more speed out of her stressed body. She dropped lower over towards the ground, windows shattering behind her from the force of her passing, and finally arrived at her destination.
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Robin's R-Cycle blew through traffic at break-neck speeds, running traffic off the road, and barely missing a semi coming the opposite direction. He made it in record time to the mall parking lot, and easily found his target. He roared across the parking lot, and slid to a stop near the flaming car.
The boy wonder leapt from his bike, and heard a sobbing on the other side of the car. He ran around, only to find Starfire on her knees, sobbing. She clutched something to her chest, her green tears staining its charred surface.
"We killed him," Star sobbed, "We killed him."
The girl rocked back and forth, clutching the burnt item.
"Maybe it wasn't his car." Robin didn't want to believe I would die that easy.
Starfire lowered her arms, letting Robin see the burnt cloth in her arms. It was the charred remains of a red trench coat, an intricate tribal pattern on the back. Another green tear rolled from her face, and landed on the coat.
"He wasn't lying," the boy wonder muttered, "there really were assassins after him."
"We killed him," Star whispered, "if we hadn't kicked him out, he would have been home safe with us right now."
A long silence was finally broken by the squeal of tires. Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven leapt from the car, and rushed over to where the two were kneeling. Well, that is, Cy and BB ran over, Raven took two steps, and stopped cold. An aura of death hung around the vehicle so heavy that it made her weak at the knees. The blast had killed him, she could feel it.
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I stood two blocks away, throwing a general feeling of death over the area where my car had been destroyed. If there were any other telepaths looking for me, they would count me as dead, and not bother me again. Little did I know the effect that this was having on my friends
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Cyborg turned his metal body towards the conflagration, using the titanium side of himself to protect what was left of his flesh. Ignoring the heat, he forced his way to the car, and yanked the door off, praying he wouldn't find a skeleton left inside. He was not disappointed. Truth be told, there was no skeleton. Then again, there were no seats, no steering wheel, no interior, no gear shift, no nothing. The explosion had completely obliterated the inside of the car, even to the point of melting the metal all the way around the inside of the car. Only one thing had survived. There were two blades, both of which used to be silver, now blackened from the heat. They had been thrown violently around the car, one resting towards the back, the other stuck deep into the very roof of the car. His red eye instantly calculated the trajectory of the blades, and confirmed that there was a 98 chance that the blades had been exactly where they should have been, had I been wearing them.
The heat was getting to him. Even his titanium armor could not hold off the awesome power of this fire. He reached in, and pulled the blackened silver blades out, and beat a hasty retreat away from the car.
He dropped the steaming blades on the ground…right at Raven's feet. The painful emotions I had attached to the blades were to much for her, and her mind broke. Every emotion inside her head cried out in sorrow, even the demon of hate she bore. The one emotion overtook her entire body, and for one moment, it united every 'emotion' she had carefully tucked away. A pair of tears rolled down her cheeks, as the realization of what Ryk had been telling her all along came true, right before her very eyes. And then, as quickly as her emotions united, they broke back to their separate entities. Each one, back in its place. Slowly, the dark girl reached down and picked up the serrated blades, ignoring the searing pain from the still scorched metal. She placed the blades in a pocket inside of her robe, and quickly pulled the robe tight, hiding the blades from sight.
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I sensed the last of the people finally leaving away from the sight of the explosion and dropped my field. I sighed, and looked over to where a scared young girl was sitting. I offered the pink haired girl my hand, and helped her up. She was still carrying all the bags from her shopping spree in the mall. Smiling, I took the bags from her, and began walking towards our home.
Jinx was confused. She couldn't understand how I could take an attempt on my life so casually, and her look said it better than words ever could. I noted it, reminding myself to explain how I could keep my cool in the face of danger like this.
We walked the few blocks back to where our apartment was, and quietly slipped in, taking the treasures from our shopping experience with us. I took the bags over to my sister's room, before heading back to my own. Once I had closed the door behind me, I turned and swore. My fists clenched, and I proceeded to beat the living hell out of my heavy bag.
How could I have been so blind? I had not expected anything this soon, and yet there it was. They had already tracked me here. They had destroyed my car, destroyed my signature jacket, but more importantly than anything else, they had left me without my blades.
I continued pounding on the bag until my knuckles were bleeding. I hated the fact of always having to run from my problems, but it was something I had to do then. And even now, I not only had to protect myself, but my sister as well.
I collapsed on the floor, still growling in frustration. I looked towards my closet. At least I still had the hard suit, but I needed a plan…and a vehicle. If I was to claim this city as my own among my former fellow assassins, then I needed to be one step ahead of them at all times. I looked at the phone sitting next to my bed, took a deep breath, and reached for it. It was time to call an old friend.
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Back at the tower, the Titans silently moved about their respective spaces. It was hard for them to even know what to mourn over. They themselves had condemned their friend to death, and they all knew it. There was no mistake as to who's car had been destroyed, or whose blades and overcoat they had found. An alarm went off, and a bank robbery appeared on the screen. It was nothing to out of the ordinary, just a lone gunman demanding cash.
Robin, to the shock of the entire team, reached over, and silenced the alarm.
"The police can handle this one." he stated, and shuffled out of the room.
Nobody protested. They were in no mood to fight right now.
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I looked over at my sister, she looked up, and into my black mask. I had suited up. She dropped to her knees, and begged me not to go.
"I have to do something," I informed her, "If I don't, that assassin will be back. He knows I'm still alive, he saw us run back in to the mall, remember?"
A long pause followed, and finally a slow, silent nod. She understood what I needed to do, and would not stop me. She wrapped her arms tightly around my armored body, holding me tight.
"Don't get hurt, ok?" she said up at me.
I nodded back, squeezed her tight, and pushed her away. I needed to get this done with. I would work silently and quickly. Turning towards the door, a heavy weight fell on my shoulders. I could feel Jinx' concern about me, she had never really cared about anyone, and now that she did, it was a crushing weight on her. I turned back towards her, flashed her a thumbs up, and I was gone.
Out on the street, I looked around quickly, letting the suit scan the area instead of my own eyes. I was aware of everything, my mind was in perfect form, my reflexes honed to a razors edge, my muscles tensed, and I sent my mind screaming through the city, searching for my prey. I knew I didn't have to even bother, though. I knew this assassin and his style, and I also knew where his favorite place was to disappear too.
The thruster flipped out of the back of my hard suit, and I rocketed off towards the waterfront.
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Cyborg stood in the Titans' garage, staring at the blackened hulk that used to be my car. He had it towed there to run some tests on it. That and, unlike Raven, he had to have hard facts to believe that I was gone. He understood that Raven could feel things, but he was to much machine to rely completely on those, he needed to know for sure. He reached over to his tool box, and started pulling out one strange looking contraption after another.
End Chapter 9