Chapter 8: Secrets of the HIVE
Jinx's sensation of the next several minutes was dulled. She saw Stevens- the Fifth Director- motioning for one of his assistants to enter the office, and the younger man quickly threw a concealing cloth over the paralyzed teenager. The next thing she knew, strong arms had picked her up and were carrying her- by the sounds, first through the hallways of the research center, and then briefly outside, and then, from the way the footsteps seemed to echo as though on metal, inside a vehicle of some sort. She felt herself set down against a cold wall, and the cloth was pulled away just in time for her to see that she was in a small metal room of some kind, looking out into what looked like a jet cockpit. Then the assistant who had pulled the cloth away hit a button, and Jinx's prison was walled off by a pulsing green force-field.
There was a faint thrum through the plane as the engines started- from her cell, Jinx couldn't see any windows, but assumed they were either airborne now or soon would be. She could feel her hands and feet starting to tingle, and suspected that whatever poison the Director had used on her was now wearing off. That was at least one small comfort in this whole mess.
She didn't know how long she waited, but her body was at least mobile, though still somewhat numb, when a robed shadow appeared in front of the force-field. Looking up, she saw the Fifth Director, now dressed in his armor and cloak, though with the hood down, revealing his face, which was now bland and expressionless. Jinx snarled and pulled herself to her feet, blasting hexes at him. They struck the force-field and bounced back into the cell, where the ricocheted back and forth against the ceiling and walls, forcing their caster to duck until they dissipated.
"That will do you no good, you know," the Director said, pulling up his hood and face-concealing mask. "I had the cell's security field adjusted to the precise wavelength of your hexes. They cannot escape from its confines, and cannot harm either me or it. Save your strength."
"Yeah," Jinx said. "I'll save it, until I find out a way to get at you. Why the mask, though? I know who you are now."
He shook his head. "This," he said, gesturing to the featureless cloth mask, "is the true face. Dr. Stevens was the mask, a false persona I crafted to suit my ends. The Fifth Director of the HIVE is who- and what- I truly am."
"So you were Stevens all along, then?" Jinx asked. "The lady at the front desk said you'd been gone. Was she in on it to, then?"
"No. The research center is quite legitimate, I assure you- only my most trusted assistants are aware of my connection to the criminal underworld, and none of them know the name of the organization to which I truly belong. The answer to your first question, however, is yes- when I heard that an institute devoted to studying metahumans was being founded here, in my own home city, I forged false credentials for myself and gained membership." He looked at her appraisingly with his cold eyes. "Your kind has always fascinated me, I must admit. So many of my inventions over the years have been devoted to mimicking superhuman abilities.
"I knew both from my own observations and my interview with your old teammate Gizmo that you and young Flash made quite a formidable pair. The key to your capture lay not in fighting you head on, but in separating and tricking you both. I knew that my attacks, if planned right, would sooner or later force you to push your powers far beyond what you had used before- and that considering your feelings for Kid Flash, he would be the tool I used to accomplish this. I put you both, but him in particular, in danger, and allowed you to do the rest. It magnificently, I must say. As I told you earlier, your doing so produced certain painful, potentially dangerous symptoms- and considering my institute was so close by, I felt it quite likely that you would inadvertently come directly to me for help.
"I knew that Kid Flash could still prove something of a challenge, so I took the precaution of drugging the water I gave him. I scanned you to give it time to take effect, and also to make certain that our previous encounter had not damaged you. As for the rest- you know what happened as well as I."
A chill crept up Jinx's spine. She knew plenty of would be criminal masterminds who loved to gloat at their victims, but true professionals only did it if they were certain the victim in question wouldn't live to tell what they had heard- and the Fifth Director gave every indication of being a true professional. That meant that he was most likely going to either kill her or brainwash her, and neither possibility was one that Jinx looked forward to.
"Hate to break it to you, smart guy," she said, hoping that if she kept him talking she might at least be able to learn where he was taking her, "but you obviously don't know as much about superpowers as you think you do. Kid Flash is a speedster- he'll flush whatever junk you gave him out of his system real quick, and do you think he's just going to let you get away with this? I wouldn't bet on it."
The Director shrugged. "It is of no concern. He's probably already awake, but we were in the sky and cloaked well before that happened. Even the fastest person alive cannot follow what he cannot track."
Jinx slumped back against the wall. "So where are we going, anyway?"
"To the headquarters of the HIVE."
"The HIVE?" Jinx asked. "You see, that's where you're losing me. Last time I checked, the HIVE was a school for mercenaries and criminals- emphasis on the was. So how exactly do you fit in to all this?"
The Director's cold eyes stared at her through the eye-slits of his mask, and then he inclined his head. "I suppose that it would do me no harm for you to know precisely what purpose your life has been selected to serve. After all, there is nothing you could do now to prevent it, anyway.
"Many years ago, eight of the world's greatest criminal scientists came together- I was among them. We were all very different in terms of personality and area of expertise, but we shared a common belief- that the criminal underworld as it stood was not enough to satisfy our ambitions. We felt that we were meant for something greater.
"One of us proposed a plan- we would pool our skills and resources and found our own secret empire, working together to acquire absolute power and knowledge. With out skills, our weapons, and our cunning, we could lay the world itself at our feet. We named ourselves the Hierarchy for International Vengeance and Extermination- HIVE- and the one who proposed the plan began to call herself the HIVE Mistress. The rest of us were her Directors, One through Seven, and together we were the Inner Circle.
"For years we waited and plotted, and our hidden empire grew. The Academy you attended was my own brainchild- a school to train an unstoppable army for us, and also provide us with metahumans to study. Soon, however, we were faced with two problems. The first was that the Mistress- who had not been a young woman even when the HIVE was founded- began to grow old and sick. Without her to keep the rest of us in check, we knew that we would fall on each other and tear the HIVE apart while battling for control. I proposed a solution- that we find a source of energy powerful enough to rejuvenate the Mistress, making her- and perhaps all of us as well- stronger than she had ever been. We looked for a source in nature, but never found it- all were either too weak, or too dangerous. That's when we turned our attention to our "students".
"And there is where our second problem arose. His name was Brother Blood, and he used his formidable psychic abilities to trick his way into our organization and seize control of the Academy from us- promptly, of course, driving it into the ground with his single-minded drive for power. The Academy's students dispersed.
"We still had the records of your histories and powers, but you were no longer where we could easily find you. We still had our records, however, and we combed through them diligently, looking for the one whose power we could most easily harness.
"That someone, Jinx, was you. You don't even realize how incredible you truly are. Your powers allow you to reshape reality to your whims, even if only to a small degree. The amount of energy your body is designed to channel to accomplish that is phenomenal. Not only do you wield great power, but the ability to alter the course of reality is precisely what we needed. Of course, it will need to be controlled more completely than you are capable of, but that will not prove difficult once it is separated from you."
"Separated…" Jinx's voice trailed off as she realized what he meant. "You're going to strip my powers out of me and use them to help a whole group of you maniacs take over the world? I don't think so!" Lunging forward, she struck the force-field and stumbled back, then fired hexes at it again to no effect. Finally she slumped, drained. "And what'll happen to me after you and your friends do this 'separating'?"
"That," the Fifth Director said, "is not my concern." Looking at his cold eyes, Jinx couldn't suppress a shiver. There was nothing at all in this man, she realized- not happiness, not anger, not even hate. Nothing but ambition and a sort of cold, professional pride.
"Get some rest," he said without sympathy. "You'll need it." Then he turned and swept away, leaving Jinx alone in the cell as she was being carted off to an unknown location and a terrible fate.
"Not if I can help it," she muttered softly to herself as she lay down against the cell wall. "Not if I can help it…"
Kid Flash groaned and sat up slowly, blinking as his eyes finally managed to register where he was- the lobby in the research center, with the concerned-looking receptionist bending over him. "What happened?" he said weakly.
"I'm not sure," she said. "You just… passed out."
"How long?"
"Not long- a few minutes."
"I think there was something in that water," Kid Flash said. "So, do you drug all your clients, or am I just special?"
The receptionist shook her head. "I don't know what's going on here."
Kid Flash stood up slowly and shook his head, trying to clear it. Then a thought suddenly popped back into his head, and he realized what had happened. "Jinx!" he said, and then sprang into a run towards the door to the main building, blowing them open as he passed. He was still woozy, and a few times he stumbled or nearly ran into a table or wall, but though he searched through the whole building in a matter of seconds, there was no sign of Jinx or Dr. Stevens.
Finally he stopped, panting heavily and leaning against a wall- he was still too drugged for that much running to have been good for him. There was only one conclusion he could reach- that HIVE creep in the hood and mask had set a trap, and they'd fallen right into it. Now he had Jinx and was gone with her who knew where.
Wait a minute- somebody knew where. Kid Flash waited until he'd caught his breath, and then turned and began to race for the downtown police station. Some HIVE soldiers currently being held there had answers, and he was going to get them.