Chapter 8

"What?"

"I'm sorry." The girl shook her head, her brunette curls bouncing lightly. "I'm sorry, but I don't think this is working out Roy." Seeing his dejected expression, she tried to make the break-up easier by saying the cliché, "It's not you, it's me." In turn, making her now, ex-boyfriend feel worse.

"I don't get it." Roy Harper certainly did not understand it. He was the one who usually did the dumping, and now a girl who he thought he actually liked was dumping him.

"Look…" Her tone became desperate, "I got to go, can't we just be friends?" Her facial expression suddenly became pleasant, almost eager.

"Hey, Maria."

"Hey Tony." Roy turned around to see whom Maria was addressing. It was another guy! And he was…kissing her? His jaw dropped, what was happening? He saw his ex-girlfriend gently push Tony away, whispering a not now, in a low tone.

"I get it now."

"Wait, Roy!"

It didn't matter. He walked away, ignoring Maria's cries. Forget her. There are other girls out there, better girls, prettier girls. He scoffed. He would have eventually broken up with her anyway, but still, how could she pick that guy over him? He was the one with the great hair. She was missing out.

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The Scorpion. Jade's eyes slowly traveled from the ground to the top of the roller coaster's highest drop. She felt herself slowly paling, although it was hard to tell. People couldn't see her pale, not with her gray skin, on the other hand, when she blushed, talk about obvious.

Her breaths became quicker as she heard Shirley and Sharon excitedly talking to Wally about the ride. How it was the biggest thriller in the park yet. What was the matter with her? She had no problem taking on men three times her size. She had hexed Madame Rouge with ease. But this…this was different. Roller coasters were something she didn't think she could handle. Give her spiders and snakes any day.

"So, want to go on it?"

No. Jade didn't want to go on the roller coaster at all. Actually, maybe she'll ride the dinky choo choo train over there, way way over there.

"YES!" The twins just had to be absolutely ecstatic. Jade just knew what the next question was going to be. And she knew she'd nod in consent because of her stupid pride. Why did those twins want to ride that monster anyway?

"How about you Jade?"

"Sure. Why not?" Inwardly Jade smacked herself repeatedly. I knew it. I knew it. I knew it…

"Great, let's go."

To her dread, Wally West led them to the front of the line, showing their "Bachelor" passes, and giving the attendant a hearty tip. The attendant ushered them through quickly and got them the first four seats of The Scorpion.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Sit up straight with your feet on the floor, and pull the safety down over your shoulders and buckle securely. If need of a question, it will be answered shortly."

The neon green safeties slowly descended onto Jade's shoulders. Its heaviness brought her a feeling of stability, but in the end, it wouldn't help her at all. She had been persuaded on enough roller coasters to know that. As the buckled clicked closed, Jade closed her eyes and waited. It would soon begin.

A flurry of whispers disrupted her. The twins were on either side of Wally, clutching his hands.

"This is going to be so fun…" Jade looked at Sharon with envy, no one had any idea how much she would give for this to not leave her feeling weak. She hated feeling weak; it made her feel so helpless, like she couldn't take care of herself. As if she had to depend on someone else to protect her. Ugh. She shuddered, the day she would be a damsel in distress with a knight in shining armor to rescue her, would be never, she'd rather die. Well…maybe if…her train of thought was interrupted, when with a jolt, the ride started.

Jade's eyes widened, and her breaths came out in short gasps. This part was the worst, the part when the roller coaster inched up foot by foot up the metal mountain, each time bringing her closer to the inevitable drop.

I hate roller coasters. I hate scorpions. I hate all fast and scary rides…I

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!" A barrage of screams interrupted her thoughts as the ride began. Jade screwed her eyes shut and moaned amidst the noise. She couldn't scream aloud; usually that made it so much worse. As the Scorpion continued its descent, Jade clutched the metal handles on her safety, I wish this was over…

Snap. Crackle. Pop. With a groan of metal, the Scorpion stopped, mid-ride. Jade carefully opened one eye; she was sitting at a slant in mid-air. Seeing her glowing fingertips, she casually stowed her hands in her pockets. Oops. She must have wished too hard.

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"Come on Roy. You would have probably dumped her by the end of the month anyway."

"Vic, I do. Not. Get. Dumped. And besides, I really liked Maria, no joke." Roy added hastily after seeing his friend's look of disbelief stamped on his face.

"Yeah right." Vic rolled his eyes. "Sorry Roy, but you're a player. I doubt you're ever going to get a serious girlfriend. I don't think you'll like anyone enough. You have this mindset…that there are always going to be better girls out there. I don't know man, I think you're going to stay a permanent bachelor."

"Who knows, you might be wrong, you thought Jinx was the right girl for you." Roy casually mentioned, walking out of the room, "But you broke up with her for Sarah. Not the nicest thing to do buddy."

"Hey! Come back here and say that to my face like a MAN!"

Peering around the doorframe Roy smirked. "Sorry Vic, but I don't want to get pummeled, and I'm way faster than you, whoa!" Roy was kicked from behind, and held in a helpless fetal position by none other than expert martial artist Dick Grayson.

"Sorry Roy, but you know the rules, don't mention Jinx around Vic, it's…touchy."

"Touchy, smouchy, what's not fair is that I'm here helpless, while Vic gets to shred me to teeny tiny pieces while you watch. Why do you always have to be such a stickler?"

Dick's glower penetrated through the dark frames that he usually wore. Come to think of it, Roy had never seen him without them. Weird.

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"Yepp. We're probably all going to die. Why not? We're stuck here, there's something wrong with the machinery, and any second now, the automatic halt might malfunction, and we'll drop down the biggest thriller in the park to our deaths." After twenty minutes, Jade was starting to get bored with the whole thing. She couldn't move, she couldn't sit up straight, all there was to do was think about the possibilities, the good and the bad. Unfortunately, all her ideas were pessimistic, and Jade thought it would be fun to try them out aloud.

Her little speech gave way to glares. Harsh angry glares. People these days just didn't have a sense of humor. Looking to her right, she noticed Shirley seemed to be frightened, and judging from Wally's pained expression, she was crushing his hand. Jade raised an eyebrow.

"I was kidding." Shirley was obviously not convinced, when their cars slowly began to move. Oh great, they're working again. Jade shut her eyes tight to wait for the inevitable. "Don't…lose..control." she mumbled. It wasn't long before she began moaning again. It wasn't like her powers, which she could control, usually. In this ride, her stomach dropped, and dropped, and kept on dropping. She hated it. The Scorpion had finished the rest of its course perfectly.

Jade slowly blinked in a trance. It was over. Finally. She got up and walked down the ramp to the safe ground, a little wobbly at first, but she was soon back to her confident, sophisticated stance.

"You looked a little scared, Jade." The speaker was Sharon, who glanced at her nails when Jade looked at her. "It's funny, how someone who acts so tough, is reduced to moaning in a simple roller coaster ride."

Jade ignored her, seeing something else catch her interest. Two park officials had been walking toward their direction for a while now, and were slowing to a stop in front of her.

"Do we have a problem sirs?" Wally asked comically moving his eyebrows. Their answer shocked him into silence.

"We have reason to believe that this girl," he shifted his attention to Jade, "is a dangerous metahuman."

"What?" Jade sounded outraged. "What are you talking about? Who gave you pea-brained morons a badge in the first place?"

"This pea-brained moron has film footage of a pink energy radiating off your fingers and the Scorpion's machinery." He cuffed her hands. "Sorry ma'am, but until further investigation, you're coming with us." Jade's stomach dropped. Rachel. She thought telepathically to the empath. I need your help, now.

As she was led away, Wally and the twins followed behind without a word. Wally's mind was thinking furiously. Does that mean that Jade has powers? Well, if she is, then who IS she? I don't think she's a hero, the databases haven't said anything about a pink-haired girl. But then again, maybe she's one of the newer heroes? The ones that haven't gotten a chance to be added into the computer…Whatever the case, she needs my help. If she even has powers in the first place…he smirked. She'll be my damsel in distress.

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