Chapter 4: Her One Weakness

Jinx groaned as she came back to herself, aware of nothing but the stabbing pain that still lanced through her skull. Slowly the pain began to recede, and she became aware of other things, such as the fact that she was lying on her back on some hard surface, and someone was leaning over uncomfortably closely. Groaning softly, she pulled herself up into a sitting position and opened her eyes in time to see Kid Flash pull back, his expression at once happy and worried.

"What happened?" Jinx asked, rubbing her head and looking around. They were no longer in the sewers, but were surrounded by starlit trees and smaller plants, beyond which she could see the glowing skyscrapers of Central City. This was one of the city parks, then- the hard surface she'd been lying on was a park bench. "How did we get here?"

"You had some kind of fit," Kid Flash told her. "After we destroyed that robot, you just… fell over, clutching your head. Then I think you lost control of your powers, because everything around us just blew up. Pipes in the walls, what was left of the robot, even the concrete cracked."

"I remember that, a little bit. Talk about bad luck," Jinx said, shaking her head. "How did we get out of there?"

"Fastest boy alive, remember?" Kid Flash said with a flicker of the cocky grin that Jinx found equally annoying and adorable. "I got us out of there as fast as I could run with everything blowing up around me. Your eyes were glowing, and it all seemed to be following us, but after a few minutes you just went out of it, and the glow went away and so did the explosions. After that I left you here and ran through the whole city looking for a doctor who might know what happened."

Jinx frowned at the word "doctor"- most of the people she knew who used that title were nutcases who laughed maniacally while proclaiming that whatever crazy, stupid invention they'd put together out of spare parts would let them rule the world. "So you just left me alone on a park bench while you ran around the city looking for someone to help me? Real smooth there." Her heart wasn't in the barb, though, and both of them knew it.

Kid Flash shrugged. "I didn't think me carrying you while I was going at top speed would be good for you. Anyway, I checked back with you often as I could, so it's not like you were alone for too long." He shook his head. "Didn't do any good, anyway. There aren't many doctors out there who specialize in superpower meltdowns, and the only one I could find was this guy named Stevens, but he's out of town for a few days and never bothered to tell anyone where he was."

"Well, I'm better now, and whatever it was looks like it's stopped." Jinx stood slowly, still rubbing her head. "Superpower meltdown, eh? I don't even know what caused it- I've been in lots of fights before and didn't blow a gasket afterwards." Her eyes narrowed as a horrifying thought occurred to her. "Oh, I hope this doesn't mean I'm going to end up like Raven, meditating so much to control my powers that it sucks all the fun out of life. That would just be…" At a loss for words, Jinx shuddered.

"You not being fun? I don't think that's a problem," Kid Flash said, laughing. "Thing is, I used to worry that someday I'd run so fast I wouldn't be able to stop, and then I realized something. There's no reason to get worked up about what might happen- just enjoy life as it comes!"

Jinx looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, and then chuckled too. "Well, you've clearly taken your own advice there, hero boy. Now then- how about that restaurant you mentioned earlier? After tonight, I'm really in the mood for something nice to think about. Think it's still open?"

"I'm sure it is, and if it's not, we'll go somewhere else. My treat!" Kid Flash turned and walked off into the night, Jinx following closely behind him. She wasn't really in the mood for food, but she did need something to take her mind off of tonight's two attacks- one from an unknown enemy, and one from herself.

Somehow, she had the feeling that none of this was over.

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The Fifth Director of the Inner Circle walked through the shadowed streets of Jump City, his detachment of HIVE bodyguards following silently behind. His staff clicked metallically against the ground as he made a brisk pace away from the hidden lair of the HIVE Five and towards an abandoned lot large enough for him to summon and land his stealth jet. The Director had no intention of remaining in this city longer than he absolutely had to- he had no desire to draw the attention of either the Teen Titans or the local criminal mastermind, the enigmatic Slade. It wasn't that he truly feared either party, but a fight now would eat up valuable time and put him behind schedule, and that was something he refused to tolerate.

Finally they arrived at the decided transfer point. The Director stepped lightly over the "Do Not Enter" sign that hung from the chain across the lot's entrance and stepped into its center, his bodyguards following closely behind. Keying the command sequence into the remote controller on his wrist, he nodded in satisfaction as it chimed in affirmation and settled down to wait.

After a few minutes of this, the Fifth Director felt a vibration against his side as his communicator activated. Sighing, knowing who this caller most likely was, he pulled the communicator out and activated it. Sure enough, the masked face of the Second Director stared up at him. "The First Director demands you to report," he said without preamble. "Has your mission been a success?"

"Indeed," the Fifth replied. "I was most pleased with the information I retrieved from the boy called Gizmo. He is a fool in many ways, but that is because he lacks self-control rather than brains. There is a surprising amount of useful data locked away in that skull, and I believe I found some that will be of use to us. HIVE Academy did well to recruit him as a student."

"Elaborate," the Second told him. The Fifth's eyes narrowed behind his mask.

"I don't need to answer to you if I do not wish it," he said coldly. "And in this case I would prefer to keep my plans secret."

The Second's eyes gleamed with malevolent amusement. "Say then that the First Director wishes to know how you plan to snare the girl. You do not need to reveal the details, but we insist on learning the basic idea."

The Fifth keyed in a sequence on his communicator, transmitting the image of a young man with a cocky grin and spiky red hair to his colleague. "It seems that our young Jinx has a boyfriend. This one is called Kid Flash, true identity unknown. He's a wandering superpowered hero, said to be in league with the Titans, and Jinx has fallen in with him. According to Gizmo, he was the one who convinced her to leave their team, the HIVE Five, though admittedly he put it rather more colorfully than that."

"And how does the addition of one more superbeing make our task easier? I would think that it would complicate matters considerably."

The Fifth smiled behind his mask. "Ah, but it seems that Jinx has allowed herself to become weak- she genuinely cares about him. It is possible to find strength in others, true, but it is far easier to be hurt if you leave yourself vulnerable in that way. Jinx is our target, but I believe that Kid Flash is the key to her."

"How so?" The Second Director seemed interested in spite of himself.

"Ah, now that would be telling, wouldn't it? You will see what I have in mind as it unfolds- it would be such a shame to spoil the surprise. Now then, you have interrogated me, so you owe me information in return. How fares your end of the operation?"

"The machine is almost complete," the Second told him. "We just need to run a few more tests, but we are confident that it will be ready within the next few days- just in time for you to deliver Jinx."

"Indeed. And how fares the Mistress?"

"Her condition is unchanged, though she eagerly awaits the operation's completion. Have you anything more to report?"

"That is all. Fifth out." The Director snapped his communicator shut and returned it to his belt. The remote attached to his wrist was chiming again, which meant that it would soon be time for him to leave. Rising to his feet, the criminal mastermind looked to the sky and watched as his personal jet, silent and painted a non-reflective black, descended from the sky, visible only by the stars it obscured. It came to hover feet above the vacant lot, and a ramp descended from its belly.

The HIVE bodyguards marched inside, and the Fifth Director paused to make certain no one was there to see before sweeping inside after them. When he was settled into his seat, the ramp retracted and the jet rose into the sky.

The speaker beside the chair crackled. "Destination, Director?" the voice of the pilot asked from it. The Fifth turned for a moment to look back at the deactivated energy cell in the rear of the plane, and then looked back at the speaker.

"To Central City," he ordered. "We have business to attend there."