Hour Two (Part Two)


It started with a dance.

She moved in the shadows, her hips swaying in time with the beat, her long silky black hair following her rhythm seconds later. She was slithery like a snake, and just as impossible to grasp. Speedy found that out rather quickly.

He pursued her for several minutes, keeping his eye on her moving form even if he couldn't get his hands on her. The people bustled around him, their laughing eyes marking his progress and the likelihood of him ever catching the mysterious Kimono-wearing girl. She wore a vibrant green, yet the darkness between the crowd and the walls seemed to swallow her up nonetheless.

Speedy paused near a large table of boisterous H.I.V.E. students and watched as she paused as well. When his feet started to move again, so did hers. When he paused again, she followed suit.

He grinned as it became readily apparent that his girl was very aware of his chase and was willing to play along. Walking slowly Speedy set the pace and the couple slowly circled the room, with every step the distance between them became less and less until only a few feet remained.

A long-fingered hand wrapped around Speedy's arm, jerking him to a stop. With an audible swallow of fear, Speedy lifted his head and looked into what might be considered a face that was atop a quivering mass of muscle and flesh. "Yes?"

"I am Mammoth. You are?"

"I am?"

Mammoth looked at the redheaded teenage boy he held and fought the urge to sigh. "What is your name?"

"My name?"

"You do have one, I hope."

"Of course I have a name."

"..."

"..."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"That would ruin the mystery."

Mammoth was not amused. "My fist would ruin your face."

"My name's Arsenal," Speedy said quickly, choosing a random word out of the confused mess of thoughts he was having. "Please don't hit me."

Mammoth grinned and wrapped a heavy arm around Speedy's shoulders. "I'd watch the girl you're following. She's not as nice as I am."

"'Cause you're just a big ball of fluff," Speedy muttered and disentangled himself from the behemoth trying to befriend him. "I can take care of myself."

Mammoth shook a thick finger in Speedy's face. "You think so, but I've been watching from the security monitors for the past half hour, and she's been protecting you so far, but I don't think that'll last too long."

"What do you mean she's been protecting me?"

Mammoth grinned and shrugged. "Tasty little morsels like yourself don't last too long here."

"Again," Speedy asked, "what do you mean?"

"Where's your wallet?"

Speedy skimmed his hand over his back pocket, and surely as Mammoth implied, it was gone.

Which he couldn't understand considering he'd had it on a chain.

A steel, unbreakable chain. That was still on his belt loop.

Robin was going to kill him.

Speedy grimaced. "Do you know who took it?"

Mammoth nodded...and handed Speedy his wallet back. "So, Roy, what are you going to do now?"

Speedy grinned. "Keep following her, of course." With a self-deprecating grin and a quick shuffle of his feet, he was stalking his Dream Girl and they began to dance again.


Robin let himself be led to a "Privacy" booth along the wall. He even tolerated Red X's grip on his wrist as they moved through the crowd. People moved out of Red X's way, clearly intimidated. Red X was an unknown, a player of both sides who would turn on friends as quickly as he would strangers. That made him dangerous to both good and bad forces.

Robin could respect Red X's survival instinct, even if he didn't like the boy.

They slid into the dimly lit U-shaped booth and Red pulled a small set of curtains shut over the opening. A small opening remained where the curtains met, allowing Red to monitor anyone coming near their booth who might listen in on the conversation.

"I see you decided to follow up on my information."

"It was hard to resist," Robin replied softly, keeping his voice down as Red X did the same. Neither relished the thought of someone overhearing this conversation. "An invitation into the inner sanctum of the Underworld?"

"A temporary invitation," Red corrected him. "Who'd you bring with you?"

"Speedy and Kid Flash."

"Good choices. No one here should recognize them."

"What do you know about this Brotherhood meeting?"

Red leaned back and sighed, rubbing at his black-spandex covered neck. "Supposedly they're here to recruit former H.I.V.E. students. That's what they've told all of us to get us here, anyways."

Robin stared at Red. "So...you're a former H.I.V.E. student?

Red grinned, though Robin could only hear it, not see it. "No."

"Then why did you get invited?"

"They invited some non-H.I.V.E. people, too. Me, Cheshire, Wildebeest, people who straddle the line between good and bad. Whether they intend to offer us membership or put us up on a platter to be killed..." Red trailed off, and pulled one of the curtains back enough to see who was heading straight for them. "Do me a favor and play dumb."

"What do you mean?"

"There you are," a cool feminine voice said from just a few feet away before tossing aside the drapes. Jinx stood there with an irritated look on her face and when she slid into Red X's lap, that look didn't go away. "If I asked you to, would you maim someone for me?"

Red wrapped an arm around her waist and shook his head. "You can maim them yourself."

"Yeah, but it's the thought that counts."

"You hate it when I try to do things for you."

She pouted and glared as Kid Flash who'd appeared on the other side of the booth beside Robin. "True," she admitted before gesturing to Kid who could only grin back at her. "He's following me. Don't you want to kick his ass or something? As my boyfriend, aren't you supposed to do things like that?"

Kid's grin faded as her words met his ears. "That's your boyfriend?"

Jinx nodded and hugged Red's neck in a "cutesy" way. "Maybe."

Red looked up at her. "What do you mean maybe?"

"Well, it just happens that I know you had a very good time last weekend."

"..."

"In Europe."

"..."

"Shall I refresh your memory? I do believe she called herself 'Argent'?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Jinx grinned and her smile made the dim booth seemed brighter, or so it seemed to Kid. "I have footage if you want to watch."

"You videotaped me?"

"No."

"Then how do you have video footage?"

"You were on the news, darling," she said acidly. "Gizmo felt the need to inform me." She slid off his lap and into the seat beside him, but refused to look at him from then on. Instead she focused her attention on the two boys opposite her. "I think you need a new girlfriend."

Red laughed under his breath and titled his head to lay it on her shoulder. "Don't love me no more?"

She pushed his head away. "Nope. Though, if you want me to be honest..." she glanced at him and waited for him to nod, "I didn't love you anyways. You remind me too much of Robin from the Teen Titans."

Robin, who'd been drinking some water, proceeded to spit it all over the table. Jinx laughed since most of it landed on Red X. "What?"

"I said he reminds me of Robin, are you okay?" She slapped him on the back and grinned at Kid. "What'd you do to him? Feel him up under the table?"

Now it was Kid's turn to choke. "Um, no. I'm more inclined to feel-"

She smacked him. "Don't even say it." She turned back to Red X. "So, what do you have to say for yourself?"

He shrugged. "She was hot."

Jinx sighed. "And another one bites the dust."

Kid and Robin glanced at each other, than back at the now-former couple across from them. Jinx had wrapped her arm around one of Red X's and they sat cuddled up like that even as they discussed the merits of breaking up. When Red X finally dragged himself from the conversation he could easily see the shock on the Titan's faces. "What? You've never seen a villain break-up before?"

Robin remembered their cover before Kid Flash did. "I prefer to date outside of work. No mixing business and pleasure."

Red nodded. "I wished I had the same principles. However," he noted as he glanced down at Jinx, "villainesses tend to be very beautiful and very dangerous. It's a combination I can't resist."

Kid Flash was quickly realizing just how delicious a combination it really was.

Red continued. "They tend to be man-eaters, so they go through boy-toys very quickly."

Jinx punched Red X in the arm and accidentally knocked his arm out of socket. She smiled her apologies even as she harped at him. "I'm not a man-eater."

Red pushed his arm back into socket and grimaced, but replied just the same, "True. If you were, I'd have enjoyed this relationship more."

This time when she hit him she knocked his arm out of socket on purpose, and added a flare of bad luck to damage the muscle too. She wanted it to hurt.

Kid and Robin laughed at Red's discomfort. They were still laughing when an enigmatic figure appeared at the booth's side and stood there silently. It was a girl, that much was clear, but a white cat mask with strips of black and green on the cheeks kept her face a mystery. She seemed to be all matching, what skin that showed was the same pale white of the mask, and her clothing was done in the same trio of colors.

She didn't speak, and neither did Speedy when he appeared at her side, grinning at the table.

Jinx handled introductions. "Red, you know Cheshire. Chesh, this is...um...who the hell are you guys?"

Robin grinned. "I'm...Nightwing."

Kid grasped Jinx's hand and bent to kiss it lavishly. "Impulse."

"You're telling me," she muttered with a soft blush.

Speedy bent over so that his mouth hovered over Cheshire's ear. "I'm Arsenal."

She didn't respond.