Chapter 2: The Opening Move
The force of the explosion rocked Jinx off her feet and sent her stumbling back into the tunnel wall. Rubbing her head, she pulled herself back into a standing position and quickly took stock of her surroundings. Kid Flash had also been knocked back and seemed too dazed to use his superspeed, and the tunnel ahead was choked with thick, brown smoke. Jinx's eyes narrowed as she peered into its depths- and then she jumped back as she realized something was moving in them.
It was a huge, bulky thing- twice as tall as a man and heavily plated in thick steel armor. From the looks of it, it was either a robot or some kind of advanced battlesuit- Jinx didn't know which, and she didn't particularly care. All that mattered was that it was turning its glowing red eyes towards her and raising one massive arm, and that was more than enough for her to decide that it was a threat.
The machine brought its hand level with Jinx and fired a bolt of brilliant white energy. Lightly dodging away, Jinx returned fire with one of her hexes, which struck her opponent on the chest, only to bounce off, deflected by some sort of energy shield bound into its body. "Looks like somebody did their research," she muttered angrily under her breath. That somebody had just made her job a whole lot more difficult.
As the machine turned to regard Jinx's position- she was thinking it was a robot, now, without a human intelligence to guide it- she felt a blast of air at her side as Kid Flash came to stand there. "So," he said nonchalantly, "is this some crazy ex-boyfriend you never told me about?"
Jinx snorted. "Nope- I'm not in to robots. I've never seen anything quite like this before." The robot brought up its hand again, and both teens had to drop to avoid being blasted. "It seems to know me, though."
Moving faster than a human eye could follow, Kid Flash was on his feet again and standing in front of the robot, directly in its firing range. Smiling mockingly at it, he poked himself firmly in the chest. "Yep, that's right- here I am. Take your best shot." It raised its hand again and fired off another blast, but when it hit Kid Flash had already moved himself halfway around the tunnel. "Oops, too slow. Better try again- nope, not yet. Come on, I know you can do better- oh, now that one was a closer, you're getting better. Let's try again…"
With each taunt, Kid Flash effortlessly dodged one of the robot's energy blasts, and his constant running about seemed to be confusing its motion sensors. Trying to follow it was even making Jinx a little dizzy, but she still started to notice something odd- none of the energy blasts were leaving any sort of damage on the concrete walls. Were they just some sort of harmless light (though firing that seemed rather pointless), or something that only affected living bodies?
Either way, Kid Flash suddenly stopped behind the robot and leaped onto its back, his hands preparing to jackhammer their way through its armor so that he could pull out its vital components. Unfortunately, before he could even begin the process the forcefield activated again with a crackle and a flash of energy, and the young hero was blasted back against the wall, where he lay smoldering.
Jinx hurried over to his side and rolled him over. He was still conscious, but had a dazed look in his eyes. They focused somewhat on her face, and he smiled. "Ow," he said weakly, and then fell back onto the floor. Jinx shook her head.
"My hero," she said, but couldn't mask the worry under her sarcasm. A clanking sound came from behind her, and Jinx looked up to see the robot standing over them, hand ready to release another blast. "No you don't," she hissed as it shot the bolt of energy, and she responded in kind. This hex was aimed not at the robot itself, but at the blast it had fired. The two attacks struck each other in midair- the hex burst, and it sent the robot's blast careening off harmlessly into the wall. The mechanical attacker looked rather perturbed at that, if such an emotion could even show on its expressionless metal face. Clearly, bolts of energy that changed direction in mid-flight were quite beyond its programming capacity.
That brought a vicious smile to Jinx's face. "Well then, let's see what you make of this, you oversized tin can," she snarled, and began to fire off more hexes. The robot itself might be immune, but the environment around it certainly wasn't- and as long as Jinx stayed out of range, she could turn everything in that environment into a weapon. At her direction inconveniently placed beams fell from the ceiling and struck the robot on its head, the ground buckled beneath its feet, and its own attacks were deflected harmlessly back at it. Still it continued to try and attack, incapable of knowing fear or deviating from its mission (whatever that was) for any reason.
The sight of the frustrated robot, though, made Jinx begin to feel cocky- a mistake. She didn't notice an incoming blast until it was too late, and her hex didn't deflect it very far. It struck her right leg and burst, and instantly she collapsed, a feeling of chill numbness running up her body. "Paralysis," she muttered, realizing that everything below her waist was now immobile. "Guess this thing needs me alive."
The robot marched forward to stand over her, and then its chest cavity swung open, revealing an empty space within. Long metal tentacles snaked out of the opening and began to wrap around Jinx's legs. Gritting her teeth, she fired off another hex, but it was deflected harmlessly off the metal.
Suddenly the air blurred in front of her and Kid Flash was there, still unsteady but very much awake. Hands working quickly, he began to pull the tentacles off of Jinx, even as they tried to wrap themselves more tightly around her. Finally she managed to pull free, but the tentacles relentlessly began to wrap around him as well. Kid Flash began vibrating his body, making himself difficult to hold and slowing the process down, but he couldn't stop it.
An idea struck Jins suddenly and with incredible force. Propping herself up on one hand and taking careful aim, she fired a hex into the robot's empty cavity. The machine paused, and then began to shake and spark. With a resounding crash its body blew apart, and Kid Flash was dropped roughly to the ground. The tentacles twitched feebly, then lay still.
Jinx crawled over and helped him tear them off. "Well, that was random," he said, then winced. "I think it knocked a tooth loose!"
"I don't think it was random," Jinx told him. "That robot was hear for me, and it wanted me alive."
"I wonder who sent it?" Kid Flash asked. "Do you think it was the Boss, in the mood for a little payback for ruining his bomb threat?"
"I doubt it- you saw that guy, do you really think he had the money or the brains to build a giant battle robot?" Jinx held out an arm. "Help me stand, would you? My legs still aren't working right, and I want a closer look at what's left."
Kid Flash helped pull her to her feet and they walked over to the wreckage, Jinx leaning on his shoulder. They stopped when they came to the robot's lifeless head, lying still on the tunnel floor. Jinx reached down and picked it up, turning it over in her hands and looking for some sort of identifying mark. Finally she found one, and gasped in surprise.
"What is it?" Kid Flash asked. Jinx said nothing, but showed him what she had seen on the back of the thing's "skull"- a symbol that she'd thought she'd left behind months ago; the stylized H of the HIVE.
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The Fifth Director of the Inner Circle sighed as the visual feed from his robot went black. The machine had failed, been proven to be far less durable than had been expected. But then, that wasn't entirely its fault- after all, the girl and her companion had proven far more resourceful than had been expected.
He heard a snide voice chuckling from behind him. Turning his chair around, he faced the robed and hooded form of his colleague, the Second Director. "It seems that your machine has failed, my friend," the Second said, still chuckling. "I warned you that it wouldn't work."
The Fifth scowled, though the expression was hidden beneath his hood. He and the Second had never been "friends"- true, they respected each others' competence and ability, but each also schemed to elevate himself in the eyes of their own superiors- the First Director and the Mistress herself. There had been no chance for anything resembling "friendship" between two of the leaders of one of the most powerful criminal syndicates in the world.
"Do not think that this is the end, Second," the Fifth Director said. "Do not forget that we are all, at heart, men of science- that robot was as much to gather information on how the girl's powers had progressed since we last had a chance to observe her. It would have been fortunate if we could have captured her, but… I have other weapons. This is too important for me to risk by putting all our eggs in one basket."
"So what are you going to do now? Keep sending robots and gathering "information" until you're forced to admit she's just better than you are?"
The Fifth Director smiled grimly. "No- I think the time for that has passed, don't you? I think it's time to do more direct research- find one who knew Jinx well and force them to reveal all they know about her strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps there is something we missed- and it pays to be thorough."
"You have someone in mind?" The Second Director sounded unconvinced.
The Fifth turned back to his console and pulled up an image. "Indeed I do, and I think I shall be attending to this matter personally."