Chapter 7: The Trap is Sprung

Jinx pulled herself away from Kid Flash, running her hands along her body. She hurt all over this time- the ache reminded her of what it felt like to build fitness through exercise, except it was spread all throughout her rather than just in some of her muscles. "I just wish I knew why this was happening to me!" she said angrily. "I've never had attacks like this before the fight with that HIVE robot."

"D'you think it did something to you?" Kid Flash asked. "Are you sure it didn't inject you with anything, or something like that?"

"I think I would have remembered that," Jinx said drily. "But whatever's happening, there's got to be a cause."

"Maybe you should get yourself looked at?" Kid Flash suggested. "I mean, if there's something wrong with you, someone who knows what they're doing might be able to figure out what and tell you how to fix it."

"Yeah, like who?" Jinx asked. "I don't know anybody with that kind of expertise about powers, except maybe Brother Blood, and he's still locked up- not to mention that I wouldn't trust him to do the job right anyway. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how my powers work- only that they do."

"Maybe you should find out. There's a research center pretty close to here that I've heard about that studies metahumans- tries to find out what makes our powers work and how our bodies handle it. I bet one of the doctors there could help you out."

Jinx was dubious. "Research center? Flash, most of the scientists I'm familiar with are of the mad variety. I'm not sure I want to wind up some nutcase's lab rat."

He chuckled. "I think you worry too much. Really, I think these people are part of one of the local universities- they're not up to anything too risky. Besides, it's better than sitting around waiting for another one of those attacks."

"You're right about that," she admitted. "Well, I guess it's worth a shot. But if this goes wrong, remember that it was your idea."

"You're on," Kid Flash said. "Now let's get going before you have another episode."

"Wait a minute," Jinx said, "I don't like the sound of…" before she could finish, Kid Flash and already scooped her up in his arms and shot of down the street at a blinding pace.

"They're moving out, Director," the HIVE soldier who sat in the cloaked jet's cockpit said.

"Excellent," the cloaked and masked figure replied. "Their destination?"

"As you predicted," the soldier replied.

"Very good. Set our course- we're not going to beat Kid Flash there, but it would be impolite to keep them waiting long, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, sir," the soldier said, activating the controls and send the jet soaring silently along the path the two teens had taken.

Jinx fidgeted as she sat in the lobby for the Central City University Institute on Superhuman Studies. Apart from Kid Flash and a bored-looking receptionist to whom they'd explained the situation, they were alone in the room, and Jinx couldn't shake the feeling of unease. The receptionist had told them that one of the doctors would be able to examine her shortly, and had been shocked when they'd asked about payment- Kid Flash, though he'd only been active for a few years, was already a popular fixture in the city, and the receptionist said they'd be more than willing to assist any friend of his free of charge. It all struck Jinx as being far too convenient. Kid Flash told her she worried too much.

A signal buzzed behind the desk, and the receptionist picked up a device that resembled a small cell-phone and answered it. After speaking briefly, she put it back down and smiled. "Our chief research specialist, Dr. Stevens, has just returned and will be able to examine the young lady now," she said.

"Stevens," Kid Flash said, "wasn't that the guy from the hospital I checked the other night? They said he was on vacation or something."

"Dr. Stevens sometimes lends his knowledge to the local hospitals when they have to treat a patient with superhuman powers. He has been on vacation for the past few days, and like I said he just got back. I assure you he is one of the most knowledgeable men in his field," the receptionist said. She motioned towards the door in the back of the lobby. "He's waiting for you both."

"All right then," Jinx said, getting up and walking towards the door, Kid Flash following closely behind. Opening it, she saw a middle-aged man in a white lab coat waiting, a paternal smile on his face. The nametag pinned to the coat's front read "Samuel Stevens, Superhuman Research".

"Ah," he said, smiling wider. "You must be Jinx. And Kid Flash, of course, I know by sight, though we've never met face-to-face." He held out his hand. "I'm pleased to make both of your acquaintances."

Jinx shook the doctor's hand warily. His voice sounded somewhat familiar, but she couldn't place it and finally put it out of her mind. He probably just reminded her of some instructor she'd had at the HIVE. "Are you sure you can help me?" she asked without preamble.

"Well, I won't know for certain until I know what exactly is troubling you, but I assure you I will do my best." He smiled warmly. "Now if you will both follow me. We'd best get this started."

Jinx lay on her back on a flat table in a room that uncomfortably reminded her of Gizmo's personal lab, albeit much neater. The walls were bare and white, and various machines and scanners dotted the floor and walls. One of these was about to be lowered over her, and she'd examined it rather thoroughly, much to Dr. Stevens' amusement, before deciding that she would allow it to be lowered over her. She finally had to admit that it appeared to be nothing more than a high-powered scanner, and decided it would be safe. Kid Flash stood off to one side with a concerned look on his face, drinking from a glass of water one of Stevens' assistants had given him.

"All right," Jinx said. "Before this thing starts, I want to know exactly what it's going to do. It'll just help me feel a bit better about this."

Stevens chuckled. "You're a suspicious one, aren't you? This machine with simply analyze the patterns of energy coursing through your body- energy that controls your powers and, from your description, is likely responsible for the attacks you've been suffering. After analyzing the readout, I should be able to tell you exactly what is going wrong and where, and how to best deal with it."

"Then let's get this over with," Jinx told him. Resting her head back on the table, she tried to keep her mind relaxed as the scanner was lowered over her. She could here Stevens counting down from five, and then he snapped his fingers. Across the room one of the assistants, flipped a switch, and the scanner erupted in brilliant white light.

An hour later, Jinx sat in the lobby again, nursing a headache that had nothing to do with her attacks and everything to do with the brilliant light that had been shined directly in her eyes by that stupid scanner. Would it have killed Stevens to tell her she ought to closer her eyes before he turned the thing on? Maybe it was just his idea of a joke, though it didn't seem very professional to her. He was back in his lab now, poring over the results. He'd better have got something good from it, was all Jinx could say.

Beside her, Kid Flash was hanging his head, eyes looking droopy. "Are you all right?" she asked. "Don't tell me you're going to need a doctor too before this is all over. I mean, bad luck is one thing, but that would just be ridiculous."

"I'm fine," he said, trying and largely succeeding to sound bright. "That battle this morning must have tired me out worse than I thought, though. I think I'll just get some more water." As he got up to do that, however, the door opened and one of Stevens' assistants poked his head out.

"Your test results are ready, Miss, uh… Jinx," he said. "Follow me please."

"You coming?" she asked Kid Flash.

"You go on," he said. "I don't think there's anything to worry about, and I'm just feeling really beat."

Regardless of what he said, he seemed distinctly out of sorts and had Jinx worried, but right now she needed to find out what the doctor and his cursed machine had found out about her condition. She followed the assistant back into the research section of the building and heard the door shut behind her.

Kid Flash felt like he'd just sprinted a hundred miles at top speed, and he had no idea why. He was also incredibly thirsty- he could feel the back of his throat burning no matter how many cups of water he downed. Finally he just dropped back into one of the lobby chairs, and, deciding that wasn't comfortable enough, sprawled over a couple of them.

He blinked heavily, and the world started swimming in front of his eyes. Something in the back of his brain was telling him that this wasn't right, but the rest of him just wanted to sleep. Finally the worried part of him won out and he pulled himself to his feet, preparing to go barging into the back after Jinx. She'd been right- there was something fishy going on here…

He tried to take a step, but his legs apparently had other ideas. Kid Flash toppled backward onto the floor, and the last thing he saw was the receptionist hurrying over and bending over him with wide eyes before darkness fell over his vision and he passed out.

Jinx sat across from Dr. Stevens at the desk in his office, a small room rather bare except for a computer, a shelf of books with highly technical titles that made her head hurt even to think about, and a handful of awards that hung on the walls.

"So," she finally said. "What's the scoop? Are my powers going to boil my brain in my head, or am I just imagining things?"

"Neither," Stevens said. "I've analyzed you're readouts, and I must admit they're quite fascinating. Your body channels a tremendous amount of energy from an outside source as yet unknown, and it uses that energy to manipulate, to a degree, the flow of the universe itself. In other words, you quite literally shape probability to your advantage."

"You know, that's about the fanciest way of saying I cause bad luck that I've ever head," Jinx told him. "It also doesn't tell me anything I don't know already. What did you find out about my headaches?"

"Your body has recently spiked the amount of energy it's been drawing in," Stevens explained. "That's put a lot of stress on it, and it's been forced to rapidly adjust. That appears to be the cause of the symptoms you're experiencing. It may continue for a short time, but should ultimately cease without causing lasting damage."

"The fight with the robot," Jinx breathed softly, "and the HIVE soldiers. That's what's been causing this- I used too much power during those fights."

"What was that?" Stevens asked, sounding interested.

"Nothing," Jinx said. "Just glad I'll be back to normal soon. So, about how long will it take to get this out of my system?"

"A few days, so long as you don't tax yourself too much in the meantime," he said. "However, if you want, I have prepared a medication I've used in similar cases that should serve to dull the pain." He reached into a drawer in his desk and removed a long, thin needle filled with some purplish substance. "If you don't want to take it, I fully understand."

For a moment, Jinx paused, weighing her options. On the one hand, she'd only known this man for a little over an hour and she wasn't sure she trusted anything a stranger wanted to inject her with. On the other hand, if she wanted to track down the HIVE agents who were pursuing her, she couldn't be crippled by the headaches and loss of control, and if this helped she didn't think she could afford to pass it up.

Besides, a little voice in the back of her head said, you're not a criminal anymore. You don't need to be suspicious of everyone's motives. Kid Flash would trust Stevens. Do you want to be more like him, or like Gizmo and Mammoth?

That settled it. "I'll take it," she said firmly.

Stevens smiled. "Roll up your sleeve, please," he said. Jinx did so, and without any fuss he dabbed off a small area of her skin and injected the medication. Jinx didn't even feel it go in.

Almost immediately, however, she realized something was terribly wrong. A feeling of numbness was spreading along her arm, and then up into her whole body. She tried to lung at the doctor who still stood there, smiling at her, but she only fell forward and crashed into his desk. Her whole body felt like dead weight. She'd been tricked, paralyzed, away from help. Jinx cursed herself for an idiot.

Dr. Stevens smiled and pulled a small, round device from inside his coat- a HIVE communicator. Flipping it open, he spoke softly into it with the familiar voice that Jinx could now place. "This is the Fifth Director of the Inner Circle," he said. "Tell the First that I have her."

AN: Sorry for the late update- I've been preoccupied with finishing my Avatar: Last Airbender fic and the holidays in general. I should be back on schedule now- thanks for your patience!