Waking up before the sunrise was something Jinx both loved and hated. It brought back old nostalgic feelings that gave her bad ideas, whether it was the yet-to-be-opened bank or the lone business man with a wallet weighing him down, all of it reminded her of what she couldn't do any more. Then she felt it: a quiet breathing on her neck. She slowly turned to face Raven.
"Hey Sunshine." Jinx spoke with a grin.
"Morning. Sleep well?" Raven asked, mentally gathering her bearings.
"Bit restless. So who took so long to beat down yesterday?" Jinx asked.
"Mumbo and Billy, who make a seriously odd team, so we may need to look into it. But Mumbo kept pulling rednecks in jumpsuits out of everywhere, and that got old quick," Raven explained with a good deal of contempt for the wizard in question.
"What did they rob? Magic shop, bank or what?" Jinx asked with an oddly contemplative look for being in a bed in only her underwear.
"Bank, why do you ask?"
"Well mumbo has a thing for feeling young, and Billy is a really easy person to sway. So there's that and if Mumbo found out the only real good way to slip things past the ever present protectors is a good distraction then who knows. There could also be a scramble for some easy money before Officer Buzzkill brings down the law on everyone. Interesting." Raven could feel Jinx's mind turning. With every second that passed a new thought emerged, and to both see and feel this happen was almost awe inspiring to the empath.
"Why the face?" Jinx asked with somewhat of a smirk.
"Nothing, just you lying here, and I can feel you thinking. I knew you had a bit of a manic thought process but to feel it and see you think it was … adorable?" Raven admitted with a bit of a blush.
"If I didn't know better I would think you're trying to seduce me, Miss Raven," Jinx joked with a hint of something else.
"And here I was thinking you were trying to seduce me, for shame!" Raven flirted back with a grin and an ever growing blush.
"I would say you're doing pretty good seeing as how I'm in my delicates and in your bed." Jinx, oh the little minx, the adorable little kleptomaniac that Raven has managed to hold in her arms.
As if someone being in a functioning relationship was his Bat Signal, Robin knocked on the door.
"It's like he knows when we break a rule around here." Raven complained.
Jinx, pulling Raven back down, whispered one thing into her ear as if it were her mantra. "Fuck the police."
Raven had to stifle a laugh at Jinx's words; one would think someone in the hero-ing business would respect authority. No, most heroes become heroes due to lack of respect for authority and Robin more than likely mumbled the words to himself at one time or another.
"Forget the rule already?" Robin's voice had a hint of humor in it, whether it was him letting himself in her room or finding them as he did, Raven couldn't tell.
"Is that why you're here?" Raven asked as Jinx did her best to not look guilty.
"No. Needed to talk to Jinx, had a feeling she would be in here." Robin's voice had shifted to detective at this point.
"Are you stalking me?" Jinx asked from behind Raven, both not leaving the bed for lack of modest clothing.
"Caught Bee with Cy, she was supposed to be your room mate to make sure you both don't do what you did." Robin spoke like the true son of the Batman, factual and without compassion.
"What did you need to know bro?" Jinx shot back, taking the answer in stride. He didn't seem too surprised so it must have been a rule that was never meant to be enforced, her favorite kind of rule.
"Did or does Jak have any moments where he disappears for a day or two?" Robin asked as a formality. Although there was a question mark, it was still an order, one Jinx was hesitant about following.
"Bro code does not permit me to answer that question there, boss man, sorry but he did too much for me to feel comfortable throwing him under the bus like that." Jinx's tone was joking but her determination was clear, Robin would get nowhere with Jinx right now.
"Do you understand what you're doing? You have just admitted to covering for a suspected criminal who is believed to have stolen from the Titans, and you still wish for the 'bro code' to remain unbroken?" Robin was now close to interrogating Jinx and Raven was close to kicking Robin out of her room.
"Alright, I will tell you what I know but not now, simmer down Bird Boy. Let me get my stories straight and collect my thoughts. IF, and that a big 'if', Jak is the thief I will tattle but I doubt that, so please leave so I can put on some pants." Jinx's eyes held a hint of anger and her determination was clear, but she was stuck between two people, the man who saved her life and the man who got her to save her own. Only one thing was certain: Jinx's bad luck streak continued unabated.
"What do you think I should do?" Jinx asked turning to look Raven in the eyes.
"Stay firm in your beliefs, do what you think is best and see what happens." Raven spoke with false optimism, both knew what that this was … A no win situation.
"Not to be mean but that's a bad bit of advice." Jinx sighed as she put her head back down on the pillow.
"Not real good on advice when it comes to dealing with people. Why not call someone and ask them?" Raven mumbled in to Jinx's shoulder.
Jinx shot up, nearly breaking Raven's neck. "You are a genius, give me a second!"
Raven sat up and did her best to look at Jinx like she wasn't crazy. "Nearly took my head off, what are you doing?"
"Phoning a friend, knew I dated you for more than your hot bod." Jinx joked as she dialed the number when she found her phone.
"Thrilled, I am just thrilled," Raven dead-panned as she fought a grin.
"Jinx, what do you need? I am guessing this is important, right?" Raven could hear the voice on the phone; Jinx must gamble.
"A bit of a moral issue, some people want me to snitch on old friends … What do I do, man?" Jinx pleaded.
"Who is it? If they are up high and it's just a trust thing, tell the truth but let it be known you're hesitant. You know what? Tell your lady buddy and she could make it seem like they have to tug the heart strings so they know why you're doing this. Just don't let yourself be used, know when to hold'em and fold'em." Raven watched Jinx nod her head and soak it all in.
"Thanks Jak, you're the best." Jinx nodded and threw the phone on the bed.
"Well that is one problem solved, with, what … A hundred more to go?" Jinx complained with a sigh.
"Yes, now all you have to do is talk to the 'Boy Wonder', that won't be bad at all." Raven noted with a bit of a grin.
"Sarcasm is not helping." Jinx continued to complain as she rolled over and put her face in the pillow. "You are coming with me in case you wanted to disappear on me." The pink haired ex-thief continued.
Raven looked at the girl beside her, pouting like a little kid who was just scolded. "Wouldn't dream of it. But the sooner we do this, the sooner we can put it behind us."
Jinx turned her head to the side where only an eye was visible. "Fine, but I will not be happy about it."
The two took their time getting dressed, Raven due to the guilt because she was letting this go on even though it goes against every fiber of her being, and Jinx because she will have to look Robin in the eye and lie without lying.
The caped teen was sitting on a stool deep in thought; Jinx walked up and went to tap him on the shoulder when he turned around.
"So you will share what you know?" Robin asked with a furrowed brow.
"Why not. So what are we talking about? How he knows what he does or where he runs off in to the night?" Jinx asked with an eye roll and a sigh.
"How he knows what he does would be a good start." Robin shot back, not caring about the eye roll as long as he gets what he needs.
"You are aware that we have a corporate espionage thing going, right? He tells me where and what and I give him the hard drive with the info on it," Jinx explained holding her hand out to Raven.
"I am aware, but that does not explain why he has access to what he has, a stealing employee record doesn't give that kind of access." Robin argued, his tone getting more irate as Jinx and Raven locked hands.
"It's bigger than local felon, I am talking their corporate books, the numbers and uses of every cent as well as the plan for what to sell and buy, and let's not forget that ever-present weak link that will jump ship and destroy moral. That is what we do; give people with too much time and money another leg up on the competition." Jinx shot back, half offended that Robin would think that she would be so small time.
Robin pinched the bridge of his nose, not regretting the conversation but getting close. "Ok, you sell state secrets, why does that make him connected to this anti-hero campaign?"
Jinx took a breath before starting, as if she was telling a ghost story. "He was once the guy you talked to when you needed something burned down or blown up for insurance money. Well the gang friends he has can steal more from corporation A than corporation B, which you may or may not know leads to a lot of headaches up the food cnain and can make frivolous spending on security seem like a good idea. Or even better they can be paid twice to not steal from both with every seedy person in town getting a piece of the pie; it's a sick racket but it's all vertical." Jinx explained, a bit too proud of the look she was getting from the caped Titan.
Robin was getting to see why Jak was such a hard man to find in the first place and why the police wanted him caught so badly. "Okay, so why is he interested in helping us? It would seem he would benefit from us being taken down more than most."
This, explaining that question right there, would be the nail in Jak's coffin … but who knows maybe the truth would help. It couldn't really hurt at this point … Could it? "Jak, how do I explain this? He played both sides at one point, before I met him. It led to a few people being killed, wasn't a big deal. In that line of work it happens. Fact is, you ruin lives, no avoiding it. But this time he knew the guy, knew his kid. The dead guy's not Jak's; she went up to him and asked where her dad was. The kid's mom knew Jak was responsible for him dying but also knew that he chose that life. Jak had a mental break down in a mall after that, threw a table or two. End of story, ended up in therapy and some intern caught his eye. He got better, then they started dating. So now he has this guilt trip about how much worse he made the streets." Jinx felt horrible, it wasn't her story to tell yet she told it anyway, figuring that the worst wass already behind her at that point so it all was going to get better.
"Ok, recap. Jak feels massive guilt about how he destroyed this city from the inside out and about how that led to the deaths of a few people, so that led him to want to clean up the mistakes he made by protecting us?" Robin asked with what could almost be seen as compassion.
"Don't forget he also used some umbrella corporations to give us some- scratch that, a lot of money that paid for our big screen." Cyborg chirped in from the living room.
"Thought that came from STARK industries?" Beast Boy asked, now interested because the T.V. was in question.
Cyborg thought about it for a bit then answered. "Yea, it did come from STARK labs but you can't just ship a massive window with 2-D holographic programming inside it and still say 'We do not support vigilantes' when it goes in our base, you know."
Jinx fought back a grin, "Hold on. Jak basically gave you guys startup money to start fighting crime with? Must be a real ass."
"Yes, because him supplying us with money couldn't be a way of making sure we had things to steal to boost his reputation." Robin said in a calm manner.
Jinx was slowly getting mad. It turned out Jak had actually helped the Titans and still Robin continued being that way. "Hey, what's with you making sure Jak stole from you, is it your spidey sense tingling or what?" Jinx snapped, only Raven squeezing her hand stopped her.
"Its personal, Jinx, just let it go. Long story." Cyborg butted in, not wanting to a see a fight.
"I told all of Jak's secrets, hell I have bent over backwards so you will let me and Raven do whatever but really? It's personal? Why don't you go sniff some of Slade's hair and leave us alone?" Jinx's rant was short but it hit Robin to the core. Robin just walked off, knowing he got all he could today.
Raven looked at Jinx. Pink eyes met blue and few words needed to be said.
"Necessary?" Raven asked.
"Sugar plum, aren't you the one who told me to stick to my morals?" Jinx joked.
"Yea, sugar plum, didn't you?" Beast Boy kidded, not accustomed to pet names just yet.
A\N sorry took forever to write but hey it's here, still alive I swear. I didn't die or forget about this. Oh a thank you to Concolor44 for the spell and grammar check. And a second thing who ever DC () is I have no idea who you are, there are a few hindered of you guys out there.