A/N: Where my reviewers at? Huh? What? Y'all can't give a girl some love?!
Hour Three (Part Two)
Five minutes ago
Speedy wasn't really sure who was leading and who was following. Though he was in front, he very much felt like Cheshire was in charge. When she started to move to the left, so did he; to the right, so did he. She was the puppeteer to his marionette, which was ironic considering both of those villains were sitting together near the entrance.
Eventually they ended up at the bar amongst the crowd of people all vying for Psimon's attention. Unlike conventional bartenders, Psimon moved at his own pace. Since he wore a long dress-like garment with little leg movement, his pace was slow. Speedy had almost jostled his way to the front of the throng when the people around him suddenly darted away quickly. He was left barely standing as the support of people around him disappeared and jumped a foot high when a small but firm hand helped him regain his balance. He knew without looking that it was Cheshire. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the villains who just seconds ago were so close they could probably tell whether he was wearing boxers or briefs were all cowering feet away, their eyes locked on his companion.
He smiled to himself as Psimon settled himself in front of the sudden barren stretch of bar. "An unopened bottle of water, please," Speedy asked and received a glare. "What?" Neither Cheshire nor Psimon spoke. A bit belatedly he realized his faux pas. "Oh..." He cleared his throat loudly. "An unopened bottle of water, now!" His hand slapped onto the bar and Psimon nodded approvingly. Speedy imagined that if she wasn't wearing a mask, he might have seen a little smile from Cheshire.
As they waited for Psimon to return with the beverage, Speedy smiled down at Cheshire's mask. "So...what'd you do to make all these Big Bads scared of you?"
"..."
Speedy pulled a napkin close and pulled a pen from one of his pockets. "You can write down your answer if you want...along with your number?"
"..."
Speedy shrugged and grinned at a very attractive blonde a few tables away. Before he'd even finished winking, Cheshire was pressing a very cold, very sharp dagger to his very exposed neck. Speedy, sensibly, froze. "Um...sorry?"
What he could see of her eyes was glaring at him.
"I won't do it again?"
Psimon set down the water with a small thunk and whispered, "No blood on the bar."
Cheshire nodded a little and the dagger slid back into whatever secret crevice she'd pulled it from. As quickly as it appeared, it was gone, and he had barely seen her move. Pressing his hand to the spot she'd nicked, he grabbed the water and grinned at her. "You're feisty, I like that."
She wasn't glaring at him anymore, which was good. Instead her eyes danced with what could only be described as amusement. For once, they walked side by side back toward their table, only to find their way blocked about halfway there.
He was tall, almost six feet and most of that was muscle. His body said 'man' but the face said 'boy'. He wore a cowl not unlike Batman's, except it was a shade of brown and had smaller cat-like points. The cowl melded into a light brown body-suit, it's only distinguishing marks were three bright red slash marks on his chest.
The boy's eyes were locked on Cheshire and Speedy felt her tense beside him. Before Speedy could ask who the human blockade was, said human blockade began to speak. "I have to agree. She is quite feisty." He stepped closer, very much invading Cheshire's space. "I like it. Makes me want to beat it out of her."
Cheshire's head cocked to the side and she was clearly amused. However, Speedy was not. Sliding himself between the imitation-Mammoth and Cheshire, he introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Arsenal," all friendly-like, "now back off." Not so friendly-like, the crowd noted as they all took a big step back.
"I am Catboy," was the only response Speedy got before thick-fingered hands gripped his t-shirt and hoisted him off his feet. "You're in my way."
"Listen, here-" Speedy started before he realized that he was now sailing through the air. Faces blurred past and he wished he had his bow and arrows with him. He could've kicked this guys ass with if he had his weapons. When he slammed into the table and stared up at his friends, his head pounding and his vision fading, he could only grin and let Jinx's bottle of water slide from his hands. He gave them an encouraging thumbs-up and proceeded to pass out cold.
The trio left awake and in the booth stared out into the quickly disappearing crowd. Jinx and Cheshire stood side by side before Speedy's assailant, both of them clearly ready to do battle. Jinx looked odd out of uniform, with her tan skin, but with a familiar pink energy flashing at her fingertips. Robin almost wished he had a camera so he could remember the way she looked; the better to hunt down her secret identity with. Of course, she seemed so naively trusting tonight that perhaps she might tell them it willingly.
Cheshire also seemed to shed the aura of idleness she'd worn so far. She had a long katana in her hand, and its blade gleamed deadly in the disco-ball light. Her eyes held the same shimmer from where they reflected out of the mask.
If they'd been his teammates he'd have rushed to their aid.
They were villains, however, so he didn't care if they came to harm. Did he?
Kid Flash didn't have that problem, and was out of the booth almost before Speedy hit it. He cursed the looseness of the clothing Robin had forced him into; it caused a lag in his run causing the trip from booth to Jinx's side to take five seconds, where it should have taken three at the most.
Jinx startled when Kid appeared so near her, but didn't take her eyes from Catboy. "You're a speeder?"
"Yeah," Kid replied, stepping close so that he could whisper into her ear. "Who's this goon?"
Jinx grinned and was paying so much attention to Catboy that she didn't even realize she was leaning into Kid Flash. "Impulse, meet Catboy."
Kid Flash nodded his greeting, flashing back to the booth to leisurely sip at his water before rejoining Jinx. "Catboy? How...original."
The sardonic twist of Kid's voice succeeded in the ploy and Catboy's eyes flicked to the boy. "Stay out of this, child. This is not your business."
Kid grinned. "Au contraire. You're threatening the prettiest girls in the room. That makes it my business." Kid turned to Jinx, now ignoring Catboy much to his infuriation. "So, what's the sitch?"
"Catboy isn't invited."
"Why?"
"He's a turncoat," Jinx said through grinding teeth.
Kid Flash nodded slowly. "Yeah. Bad, bad traitor. Want me to take care of him?"
Jinx looked almost startled. "By yourself?"
"Sure."
"I don't think you-"
Jinx never finished her statement as Catboy made his move, striking out with a long limbed punch, missing her only because Kid Flash pulled her out of the way at the last moment. Jinx and Kid went tumbling to the floor as the momentum of his pull added in with Jinx's surprise caused them to lose their balance. They remained locked in the strange embrace of her laying on top of him long enough for Jinx to memorize the color of his eyes and become disturbed by how comfortable she was with the position.
Jinx scrambled to her feet, ignoring the interested gaze of the few people that remained in the room. At Catboy's appearance most had slipped into various hidden rooms off the main one; hiding until someone made the turncoat leave or until they could escape without being seen. Jinx cast out her energy, small pink flashes of energy snapping in the air as she began to influence the broadband spectrum of luck in the room, working it toward Cheshire's favor.
A month ago in order to save his own neck, Catboy had turned in his teammates to Interpol. He got immunity and freedom, but no one in the underworld would ever trust him again. Villains always remember, and they never forgive.
Unfortunately for the people here tonight, Catboy had a crush on Cheshire. He had the stupid idea that braving the den of Evil would impress her in some way.
It only proved to irritate her.
Cheshire hacked at Catboy, who dodged her blows skillfully. He had various small cuts along his forearms, but so far he had eluded the severe strokes of her weapon. That in and of itself was a feat. Cheshire was very skilled.
Finally, her blows coming closer and closer to his heart, most likely due to Jinx's intervention, Catboy snatched up a table and tossed it at his ladylove. Her blade sliced through it easily, but it gave him the time he needed. Pipes in the wall were weakened by Jinx's tampering with her magic and he easily pulled one out of it's sockets, whirling back just in time to use it to block Cheshire's attack.
The clash of metal on metal was grating, the smooth blade of Cheshire's weapon sliding down the rough texture of the pipe with a cringe-inducing sound. Beneath her mask she bared her teeth, enjoying this as only a true warrior could. Her eyes flicked to Speedy's unconscious form on the table and her sneer became a ferocious grin.
Cheshire sliced through the skin over Catboy's knuckles, taking satisfaction in his hiss of pain before darting out of his reach and ducking his swinging pipe.
They continued in this manner for several minutes; she toyed with him, he fought back with increased desperation. He knew when he was outmatched and he was outmatched by the smaller girl and everyone watching from the sidelines knew it.
In fact, inside the secret rooms where they cowered, bets were flying. However, very few were idiotic enough to bet on Catboy. Actually, a good number of bets were centered on the new people that seemed to bring trouble with them.
Impulse, nee Kid Flash remained at Jinx's side, deflecting any debris of the flight that came the sorceress's way. Robin and Red X watched from their table, seeming cool as cucumbers even as battle raged inches away. Again, Speedy was unconscious.
With a small gasp and a flash of pink in her eyes, Jinx wove an intricate spell and succeeded in taking Catboy's feet from beneath him. He slammed to the ground and within seconds, Cheshire was at his throat with both her katana and the dagger she'd used on Speedy earlier.
Her hands were dry on the handles and she was prepared to do enough damage to cause him to lose consciousness as Speedy had done when a pair of hand appeared over Cheshire's form and pulled her off of the struggling villain.
Understand that Cheshire was normally not so easily taken. The only reason the hands got so close to Cheshire was because they were attached to arms that stretched a good twenty feet across the room, thus she hadn't sense the anyone close behind her.
Cheshire whipped around, slicing along the wrist of whomever held her and froze as she realized how close she was to one of the most dangerous people on Earth. For the first time in a long time, Cheshire felt fear.
Madame Rouge smiled as she deposited the small teenage girl next to Jinx and Kid Flash. "Allow me, child."
With a glare, Madame Rouge wrapped her super-stretching arms around Catboy and tossed him over her shoulder. He landed in Monsieur Mallah's arms who with an evil grin disappeared back up the stairs. Dusting off her hands, she turned back to the quickly refilling room. "What a great present for Brain you deliver me, Cheshire. You're already one step up on the competition."
In case anyone is wondering, I based Catboy off of Catman of the comics. I seem to recall he and Cheshire of the comics had a relationship at one point. Otherwise, his background and the like are completely fictionalized.
