Hour 4 (Part Two)


By the time Jinx and Cheshire had made their way back to the booth, the four boys within had composed themselves.

Well...

Kid Flash and Speedy composed themselves. Neither Robin nor Red X needed any composing. They sat calmly drinking their water while they studied and listened into the people and conversations that passed them by. Robin memorized each "plot" now being hatched about taking down the Titans and made mental notes on how to prevent or spoil them. His mind was working at such a feverish pace that he didn't even notice when Jinx and Cheshire slipped into the U-shaped booth and book-ended all the boys inside.

"So?" Jinx said as she glanced at Kid Flash and picked up her water. Cheshire lifted a small lock of red hair to study the cut on Speedy's forehead but didn't say anything. She did, however, hand him a small container of Neosporin from some hidden pocket of her kimono.

"Soooo, what?" Kid asked, still a bit out of sorts now that he'd seen this (not) entirely new diabolical part of his pseudo-crush.

"So what's your plans? If you're gonna stay in Jump City you've got to get in on the action."

Kid swallowed audibly and looked at Robin in desperation. "Plan?"

Robin smiled to himself and replied for Kid Flash. "What are your plans, Jinx?"

"Not to kill the bloody Titans, that's for sure," Jinx said under her breath as she watched the Society members move through the crowd.

The words were so at odds with her actions of before that even Robin gaped a bit as he stared at her. "What?"

Jinx's eyes were half-closed and secretive as she turned to them. "Do you really think I'd stoop so low as to kill? Killing is for the unimaginative. To murder is a blunt tactic used by imbeciles to gain power. The truly intelligent know that fear is what makes you powerful. If those that fear you are dead, then where is your power?"

Somehow, despite the still underlying nefarious themes, her mini-speech comforted him. It proved that there was a line that Jinx would not cross, and though she gave different reasons for not crossing them, he had faith that in truth it was a repressed sense of morals that kept her from doing so.

She couldn't be evil, he told himself.

She just couldn't.

Kid Flash smiled at her for the first time since she sat down.

Then he immediately frowned again as Monsieur Mallah appeared at the table side. "Jinx? I want to speak to you now."

They were all surprised when Jinx stood and left without another word. Cheshire studied their faces as a series of emotions fled over them. Her green eyes staring out of the mask seemed to stare straight through them, and though they didn't wear their actual masks, all three of them felt laid bare before her in a way they hadn't before.

Beneath her own mask Cheshire smiled and slid from the booth. She disappeared into the crowd and Speedy didn't follow. "What are we going to do?"

Red X slid from the booth as well. "You'll do what your kind always does. Have a good night, boys." He gave a small wave before taking a cue from Cheshire and disappearing into the crowd. Robin knew he'd have an email waiting for him when he returned to the Tower, suitably mocking and deriding him for being the Hero he was.

Speedy repeated his question. "What are we going to do?"

Robin nodded just a bit to himself. "I've got some thoughts. A plan I've been working on for a while. Seems like the perfect time to implement it."

Kid smiled broadly. "You really are the King of being vague. Do you ever fully explain anything?"

"No."

"I figured."

"We can leave now."

"Can we wait for Jinx to get back? I wanna say goodbye."

"..."

"It doesn't hurt to be polite."

"..."

"Please?"

"Fine."


For a giant talking ape, Monsieur Mallah was surprisingly well spoken, but Jinx had long ago learned to never take things at face-value. The French Ape knew Shakespeare, her red-haired goon of a team-mate loved Broadway, and Gizmo slept with a "blankie". No matter how tough, how stupid, or how ugly someone was on the surface, what lay beneath was always another story.

She liked unicorns.

"You seem eager to get started on our proposition for the villainous youth of Jump City."

It was a statement and not a question, so Jinx did not respond. She'd learned at the harsh hand of Brother Blood that in the face of more powerful people you do not speak unless spoken to.

Mallah hadn't expected a response, however.

"I've something to speak to you of. You heard that I mentioned that several of you would be receiving offers today. That you wouldn't have to endure the test the Society has placed on most of the amateurs of this city, to destroy the Teen Titans. You are one of those that we'd like to make the offer to."

Jinx stopped walking and turned to stare at Monsieur Mallah. "Me...but not my team."

He shook his head. "No. Not your team. You."

"No, thank you."

Mallah seemed lost for words. "No...thank...me?"

"Yes. I'm not interested." Jinx turned to go, freezing in place when large Polish-Sausage sized fingers wrapped around her thin upper arm.

"The Society does not make this offer lightly."

"And neither do I refuse it lightly," Jinx replied through tight lips. Her eyes began to glow malevolently pink. "But if you don't remove your hand, you'll find soon you'll no longer have anything to remove."

Mallah was unused to being threatened, and later when his fellow Society members teased him about this little encounter he would claim surprise was the only reason he let the small girl go. In truth, looking into all that energy swirling around her irises the giant ape felt fear for the first time in years. It was almost hedonistic the thrill fear for his life gave to him. It was also another aspect of the story he would not be retelling later.

Jinx moved away from him and into the crowd, intending to head back to the booth and the flirtation with "Impulse". She found herself detouring by the large column on top of which Gizmo had returned. He was fiddling with his controls and didn't notice when Jinx stopped to stare up at him. He was younger than she was by quite a few years, really a pre-teen Villain.

He was all about being serious about his little technological projects and all about having his fun wreaking havoc with all the little gadgets he's finished. Sometimes so adult but all of the time hiding a frightened little boy.

Jinx had been protecting him since he'd been a toddler and found himself orphaned and bought by the H.I.V.E.

Jinx had been the one to steal him his first screwdriver, to watch from the doorframe as he twisted in bed wracked with nightmares. The one who taught him how to read and to freeze when asked to explain nuclear physics.

Jinx was the only one to mourn the loss of that little boy under the brutal teachings of Brother Blood.

She continued to walk through the crowd, fighting waves of nostalgia at the faces of people she'd known and hated for years.

Her relationship with Mammoth was very much the opposite of hers with Gizmo. Mammoth was two years older than she was, and had arrived at H.I.V.E. when she'd been five and had lived there for several years already. Jinx had lost a bit of that child-like sparkle most children her age had and already started to form that nice cold outer-shell.

He'd stolen coloring books for her.

He'd forgotten to steal any crayons.

That's how their relationship always balanced out. He was the protective older brother who forgot what he was protecting her from, but she loved him for it.

It wasn't even that he was stupid, because he wasn't. It was more that sometimes he couldn't make links in his mind. He had all the dots there, but he couldn't connect them. Most people saw these occurrences and assumed it was how Mammoth was at all times.

Add into that the fact that he was shy.

Like Gizmo, however, she loved him. These two were the only family she ever knew. The only family she ever wanted. In the high-pace life of villainy, neither of them knew what it was to be on their own. Even for her own high-lifestyle ambition, she wouldn't leave them. She'd take them with her if she had to drag them by the scruffs of their necks.

Jinx slid around the security desk, wrapping her arm around Mammoth's massive neck and gazing into the computer monitor. "What's up?"

Mammoth tapped a few keys and changed the camera angle, zooming into the booth where Robin, Kid Flash, and Speedy sat. "They wait for you."

Jinx smiled. "No, he waits for me. The other two wait for him."

Big blue eyes glanced up at her. "You like him."

Again, it wasn't a question so she didn't answer.

"Be careful. Even for our kind there is a lot of whispering going on."

Jinx pressed barely-there kiss against his rough stubble cheek. "That's what I got you for. Watch my back."

Finally she made her way back to the booth.