These Black Eyes

by P0ST

The ongoing adventures and experiences of the Teen Titans, as witnessed through the eyes of a silent newcomer.

145. Double Jinx part 2

145. Double Jinx part 2

"This is Marilyn Chen of JCN Broadcasting with a special bulletin. At approximately seven o'clock this morning, a gigantic explosion ripped through the heart of the City Prison North of the industrial district. Details are sketchy at this time, but according to police rumors from the site the explosion has damaged an entire building face of the Prison's Northernmost structure. Such a building is where the infamous 'Omega Wing' of the City Prison is located, the home for the most ruthless and dangerous criminals in this region. Shortly following the explosion, police rushed onto the scene and the Teen Titans answered the call. The heroes rushed in and seemingly did battle with dozens of escaped criminals of identities unknown over a thirty-minute-period and........Oh wait.......Th-This just in......It would appear that five criminals are reported to have escaped the prison during the explosion and ensuing melee. According to reports, Baran Flinders, Mikron O'Jeneus, Drury Walker, Jean Jenkins, and Franz Durk are missing at large. Better known, their aliases are Mammoth, Gizmo, Killer Moth, Jinx, and Fang. Other reports from the battle scene are still sketchy. The Titans and police appear to be in one piece...but there is an estimation of thirty deaths involved in the horrific blast. We'll bring you more on this startling event as soon as it arrives upon the threshold of JCN Broadcasting. Please...stay tuned...."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Ambulances, fire trucks, and rescue vehicles drove in and out and parked and formed lines of brimming, emergency activity. Medics, guards, police officer, and even members of the national guard filed in and out of the prison building and around the surrounding parking lot where miniature health stations and a MASH were set up. Prisoners and guards alike were treated for their wounds from the explosion and villainous rampage. A few paces off, a scuffed-up T-Car resided besides the huddled Titans. Commissioner Decker, his lieutenant, and a few other officers gathered at the scene...conversing with Robin. Beast Boy and Starfire were catching their breath while Cyborg inspected his car and Raven bent over a sitting Tempest, healing a few of his bruises with glowing hands of gray. The Atlantean winced, but braved the discomfort as he sat still and let the dark girl administer to him. He glanced over with dark eyes at the conversation at hand.

"So you suspect that Jinx indeed WAS in the middle of all this??" Decker scratched his head.

Robin nodded. "Or at least that was my impression from Mumbo Jumbo. I could have sworn Mad Mod gave off the same impression. Shortly following the explosion emanating from Jinx's room, the supervillains of the Omega Wing were freed and somehow granted control of their old weapons and instruments of crime." The Boy Wonder's eyemask narrowed as he seemed to think aloud: "To be honest....many of those weapons had to have been duplicated from scratch to have ever fallen into the escapees' hands....being that the only known surviving devices of those in Prison are either in state holding or the Titan Tower's evidence room."

"And there's been no robbery from the City warehouses," Decker muttered.

Cyborg looked up from polishing his dented hood. "Nor any punk slipping into the Tower!! Not with my defense matrix up!!"

"Which begs the question....," Robin folded his arms. "Even if Jinx set off the explosion in her cell....how could she have found or duplicated things such as Mad Mod's cane? Gizmo's tech? Johnny Rancid's motorcycle?"

Beast Boy rubbed his head. "Or Mammoth's steroids...."

"......," Decker took a deep breath.

The lieutenant leaned in. "Uhm....sorry if this sounds stupid.....but....do Jinx's powers even allow her to do that sort of thing from inside the prison? I thought she was merely a telekinetic."

"Hardly a telekinetic...," Raven finished healing Tempest's arm. He flexed it as she stood up and shuffled over by Robin's side and faced the officers. "She wields hex fields."

"'Hex fields'??"

"Energetic manifestations of the ties of fate," Raven droned. "If you can imagine cause and effect being a tangible thing subject to manipulation. Jinx has the ability to bend reality to her will...but with limitations. It's not uncommon for her to weaken a building structure, resist gravity to some degree, and cause tremors to occur within the earth. But random explosions........long-distance transportation of high-tech material......that's out of her league. At least....to the best of our knowledge."

"Though...to be honest...," Cyborg shrugged from the T-Car. "...we don't know an awful lot about her."

"Only that she was forced into being a bad girl by Slade...," Beast Boy grumbled.

Cyborg bit his lip.

Raven rolled her eyes.

"Uhm.....B-Beast Boy....," Starfire smiled with a betraying sweatdrop. "Jinx has been....m-most ruthless in her attempts to annihilate us both in the past and past-past....."

"I don't just think she's another two-bit villain!" Beast Boy waved his arms. "Come on, dudes!! You know Slade!! He used her!! What's to say that Jinx wouldn't have become good or something hadn't he and Dagger brainwashed her?!?!"

"Uhm.....," Decker raised a finger and his eyes narrowed. "Pardon me.....but.....what the Hell is the emerald muppet talking about??"

"It was in my report on the death of Slade," Robin gestured with a glove. "Jinx was motivated into becoming the Third Apprentice of Slade's by a brainwashing technique....supposedly funded by Dagger."

"You don't say....."

Robin nodded. "There're no physical details, of course. But Slade made it clear that—in some fashion or another—Jinx was 'prepared' ahead of time to be his apprentice by a fake memory of two long-lost sisters being planted into her brain."

"And what's to say she was totally wrong to believe that, dude?!?"

Robin ignored Beast Boy. "Anyways....supposedly it was out of a motive to find siblings that didn't even exist that Jinx ever first severed herself from H.I.V.E.'s iron fist way back at the Killer Moth incident at the Westhaven Opera House."

"And when Slade's ship nearly blew up with all of us on it---," Beast Boy cackled, "---it was Jinx who had a change of heart and saved our asses by switching off the self-destruct sequence with her hex!!"

Raven ran a hand over her face and sighed.

"Stop jumping ahead, man...," Cyborg said.

Beast Boy blushed.

Tempest raised an eyebrow.....thoroughly confused.

"Regardless....," Robin caught Decker's and his lieutenant's attention again. "...Jinx is a dangerous, self-absorbed criminal. Her history proves it more than disproves it."

"Though from what the prison files say....," the lieutenant flashed a manila folder and blinked. "...she was on perfect behavior for the last three months. She followed every command that the guards gave her. She never talked back. She hardly ever talked at all!!"

"Still doesn't change the fact that she's presently causing possible harm to Noir....," Raven uttered firmly.

Cyborg rubbed the human part of his head. "Yeah....that....."

".......," Beast Boy hung his head.

Starfire floated over. "Robin....tell us....is there any other possibility? Do your detective skills truly dictate that she has him in custody somehow?"

"What other deduction would you prefer, Star?"

".........."

Robin took a breath. "The shattered debris in the basement...the scuff marks on the floor...the sword strikes in the washers and driers.....they had quite the nasty fight in there. But there was no blood. No sign of a significant injury. Yet when we got there, Noir's communicator was on the floor."

"And the only time he wouldn't have his communicator with him would be....," Cyborg muttered.

"If he was forced out of possessing it...," Robin said.

"Or dead," Raven droned.

Starfire gasped.

Beast Boy clenched his fists.

Tempest looked at him.

"Heh.....Y-You don't think he's run out on us again, do you??" the changeling uttered.

Tempest glanced at the other Titans.

"No way, man....," Cyborg smirked. "...besides....even if Noir was nuts enough to pull a Wyldecarde again...we'd know now."

"How so, dude?"

"Our skulls would be smashed in."

"Oh. Right. Heheheheheh!!"

"Stop laughing!!" Starfire bit, stamping her foot in the ground. "Do you not realize that our friend may be in jeopardy??"

"You think I'm not worried, Star??" Beast Boy pointed at himself. He looked Robin's way. "Robin....what are we going to do now?!?! I know we got a handful of escaped prisoners and stuff....but Noir needs our help, dude!!"

Cyborg nodded. "We should be fanning out. Mammoth should be fairly easy to catch up with more than anyone."

"But with Gizmo pulling his reins...," Raven interjected, "...he might actually prove a camouflaged foe."

"Nnnngh......true....," Cyborg exhaled.

"We can try searching for Fang," Robin said. He clenched his jaw. "Heavy emphasis on the word 'try'."

"Heh....tell me about it," Beast Boy leaned back. "Ever tried possessing the gloves of God and reaching into a continental haystack to pick up a single daddy-long-legs, Commish?"

"Uhm....," Decker blinked.

"Killer Moth will be a dead giveaway wherever he may be," Robin said. "If we spread out now....we may actually catch Mammoth or Killer Moth or maybe both. Something tells me that they could provide info on Gizmo and Fang respectively if caught and interrogated.................just right."

"Right...," Raven smirked ever so slightly.

"And what of Jinx?" Starfire blinked. "And our friend?"

"That will take the concentration of all our energies...," Robin said. "Until then....let's look for whatever escapees we can find in and around the City. We'll just have to hope that Noir has the strength to endure on his own until we're capable of catching up with him...whatever situation he's in." Robin marched over towards his R-Cycle.

"Hey....," Cyborg blinked and gestured. "What made you so sure he could take on 'whatever' by himself??"

Robin stood by his ride and slipped on a helmet. He glanced at the other Titans. "Since I promoted him...."

They all looked surprised.

Robin saddled his bike and pointed a gloved hand. "Robin....Beast Boy...take flight over the northern forests and look for any suspicious runners. Cyborg...take the T-Car for a drive around the City Downtown. They might try hiding under our nose. Raven....do a basic fly-by of the City. Tempest....check the sewers and Bayside docks."

"What about you, dude?" Beast Boy asked.

Robin switched the cycle on and knocked the kickstand up. "I've got a hunch...and I'm going to track down my hunch at sixty-miles-per hour."

"Ah....but of course. Enjoy going Rambo, man."

The Boy Wonder looked the officers' way. "Think you can hold the fort here, Decker?"

"Consider it held," Decker grumbled. "The damn coffee truck should be here in about an hour."

"And so it is....," Robin flipped his helmet visor down and gripped the steering. VRRRRM!!! VRRRM!! "Let's do this."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

My shaded gaze stared at the platform shoes shuffling a few feet ahead of me.

I panted and scurried along.

My left arm stretched up and outward...connected to the frantically pumping right limb of Jinx.

She led the two of us up a steep hill just past a green grove outside of the Prison. A thin line of trees announced the start of a forest just beyond the hill's steep crest.

"Stop lagging behind...," she grunted.

A beat.

My left arm went taut.

She frowned and looked back down at me with glaring, pink eyes. "I said....stop lagging behind!!!"

I gritted my teeth, sweat, and tried to keep up with her on the sharp ascent. I collected myself by her right side and rushed to match her pace. It was a difficult feat...considering my 'enthusiasm'.

"Remember....I've got Slade's last bomb, Ghost Boy...," Jinx panted as she scrambled up a foot or two ahead of me. She was practically using all fours to claw her way up the hill. Her petite fingers gripped soil and blades of grass. "It's remotely powered by these handcuffs. And these handcuffs—in turn—are trained to continually detect the functioning of my biological processes. If I stop ticking....then the bomb starts ticking. For all you know...it can be anywhere or at any place. But I'll assure you of this....the carbonite is compact and deadly. It will hurt a lot of people if it goes off....perhaps even your friends. Unless you don't pull any funny stuff and try to hurt me.....or get away. Every second scratches the inside of the trigger, Ghost Boy. Do what I say....and everything will be your so-called definition of 'safe'."

I bit my lip. My black eyes glared under my shades.

"And don't give me that look!" she hissed. "I need you....I need you and only you for what I-I must do.....don't run off....or something's gonna blow off. Got it?"

".........."

"Yeah....you be quiet," she sneered, turned her head around, and put the extra effort into climbing up the hill.

I took a deep breath. My heart pounded heavily in my chest. My gaze fell and I stared at her platform shoes again.

Why....?

She yanked and pulled at me.

I kept up the best that I could.

Why is Jinx doing this??

I nearly slipped, but gripped a right-handful of grass and pulled myself up hurriedly.

I thought Jinx had changed. I thought she had renounced Slade. Her prison records.....w-weren't they perfect? What was it that Beast Boy said after one of his trips to see her? I......I-I can't remember. I must have blocked it out. Cuz Jinx...she....."

Silence.

Jinx panted quietly as she urged herself upwards. If I was lucky—perhaps—she would pass out and I could contact my friends somehow for help.

But would they understand??

I blinked under my shades.

Then again.....what is there to understand?? The prison explosion. The escapees. Their prop weapons....

I craned my neck. I got another good look at Jinx. She was adorned in her gothic outfit of purple and black...a throw-back to her glory days with H.I.V.E. and Mammoth and Gizmo. Even down to the platform shoes, she looked like the incarnation of Jinx prior to the Third Apprenticeship with Slade. I saw the tiny tear in the back of her left midriff....from where Myrkblade grazed her during our underground confrontation.

What is she doing? What does she want? And what does she want with me?

I sighed and slowed my pace to carefully climb up a steep incline. Roots of a tree hanging off a dirty cleft poked at my ribcage as I snaked up after Jinx.

I looked up and saw something slipping out of the front of Jinx's blouse. Something at the end of the chain. Heart-shaped. Spinning and reflecting the glint of the early morning sun.

I blinked.

The locket.

A beat.

Her sisters.....

I narrowed my eyes.

But I thought......Slade.......

We rounded up the edge of the cleft of dirt and started to enter a thin forest atop the earthen mound.

What is going on here?? Jinx.....I-I thought Jinx had given up on everything. Then why is she kidnapping me? Why is she making a bomb threat? Why......

My heart froze a bit.

I took a deep breath.

I suppose that some people....s-some people are just born evil.

We got up on two feet and ran into the woods.

Right??

I felt my right hand into a side pocket for razor sharp playing cards.

There were none.

I sighed with relief.

Right........

"We're.....here.....," Jinx panted. She grinned drunkenly as she slowed to a breathless pace in the middle of the forest. "Great Hecate......we're here...."

"????" I glanced at her...then at the dense woods surrounding me. Tiny scattered rays of light danced down from the filtered sky above.

"Pulsade, you can come out now!!" Jinx hollered.

Echoes.

Silence.

A beat.

I raised an eyebrow.

Jinx regathered her breath and uttered: "Leslie??!! Leslie...I'm here!! Show yourself!!!"

I heard something that sounded like a groan. It betrayed the presence of...a figure high above. Only, it wasn't a figure. I glanced up and saw a silhouette of translucency perched on a tree and stretching something out palm first---

FLASH!!!!!

"!!!!!!!"

My eyes burned into blindness with a fiery sheet of pure white. I clutched my right hand over my face and toppled over, nearly yanking Jinx to the ground.

"Leslie!!" Jinx gasped. "What are you—wait a second!!"

Ch-Chting!!

Plop!! Someone dropping down....

"You know better, Jean."

Footsteps toward me.

Plant!!

I felt the cold kiss of a thin gun barrel pressed up into the scar of my neck.

I swallowed nervously.

"Nobody hears my real name and lives to tell it." The barrel pressed deeper into my skin. "Mute or not."

"Let him live."

"Rubbish!! I'll—"

"LET HIM LIVE, Leslie!!" Jinx said firmly. I felt a tug on my left arm as her hand shifted over and obviously gripped the stranger's aim of the point blanc weapon. "We need him."

A beat.......

The cold barrel lowered from my throat.

I exhaled long and slow.

"Why the bloody Hell would we need him??" the stranger's voice uttered. "The three of us made a plan. I would help you escape the blast and the prison. "J" would oversee your journey and provide the accomplice. And you would reach your destination ALONE, Jean...."

"I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I had to bring him along. He can help me, Leslie. He can help us."

"How in God's name could he?? I've heard stories of the Wyldecarde....but he's not one of us."

I clenched my fists and squinted into the hot blindness.

Don't call me Wyldecarde.....

"Have you ever fought him before, Pulsade? Huh? Have you? Do you know what it's like to have the continent's strongest criminals—Slade and Dagger—on your side and still be beaten single-handedly by this punk over and over and over and over? Even before I joined Slade, Ghost Boy here could beat my face in. That's not something I've come across everyday in my life. And you know what that means?"

"You've gone totally daft?"

"No....he's my equal, Pulsade. He's my equal."

"....."

I panted into the darkness. Sweating. Blind.

"Where we're headed with project counter-Aviary...," Jinx rambled, "....I'm going to be a force to reckon with. But with him by my side...I'll be twice as strong...and I'll have the element of surprise at the destination. Please....we can do this with him. He won't be a liability. I've made sure of it."

"........"

I twitched as white spots danced painfully across my shaded black eyes.

The stranger's voice uttered: "Hmmmm.....you and your equal, huh?"

"That's right."

A beat.

"Heh....," the British accent chuckled. "Fancy that. A double Jinx. Twice the punch and half the estrogen......I-I think."

I frowned blindly.

What the Hell is going on here??

Pulsade??

Counter-Aviary?

A beat.

I'm Jinx's equal?!?!?!?!

"Just how do you expect him to be a good bloke? I see those handcuffs.......What? You plan on lugging him around to death?"

"It's the bomb, Leslie."

"The bomb?"

"You know....the bomb???"

A beat.

"Ah....yes.....Slade's little leftover treasure," the voice remarked. A chuckle. "Quite ruthless of you, Jean."

"Shut up. At least he knows better. One false move and he and his friends will regret it forever."

"Speaking of his mates, will those nasty Titans be on our arses now that we have one of their flock?"

"I'm going to move too fast for them," Jinx's voice said. A beat. "We're going to move too fast for them."

I clenched my teeth under my lips.

"Well...you certainly seem ready to spin the world around. Remember what we're here to do, Jean. Remember what I agreed to give my services towards. We must treasure counter-Red-Aviary above all else. The Titan's samurai here is of little concern to us."

"Don't tempt me to make things worse, Leslie."

".....I-I beg your pardon?"

"I.....I'm glad to have escaped the explosion and all...but....," there was a sudden shaking to Jinx's voice. I felt her right wrist tremble and wring her other hand. "....but....th-they're all going to tear me apart now."

"........"

"The explosion. The escaped convicts. They're all going to think that I....th-that I....."

"Jean, love....that was going to happen regardless of anything. The fact of the matter is....we got you out alive. And now that you're alive, you can help us in tracking down the source of everything."

"I know....I-I know....it's just that......"

A lingering pause.

I sensed footsteps. The stranger came closer.....to Jinx, not me.

"What is it?"

"I.....I-I was so scared......I was so scared, L-Leslie. I barely made it out of there. It was hard enough to ensnare Ghost Boy here. I....I-I wanted to see you. I wanted to know you were with me."

"I was with you, Leslie. I oversaw your escape. So did "J" through the computer systems. You know that."

"But you were all so damn invisible!!" Jinx shuddered. Her right arm trembled even more. "Ever...E-Ever since I left H.I.V.E. I can't help but shake this feeling of being alone. So very alone. B-But it's all my fault, Leslie. I....I-I should have stayed with you. I should have stayed with you after I left the Westhaven Incident. But S-Slade....he promised me so much. H-He promised me so m-much and I fell for it. I was so stupid. S-So vulnerable. You would h-have taken care of me but I g-gave in to that madman instead. I'm so sorry.....I-I'm so s-sorry...."

It was quite obvious to me through the shaking of the handcuffs and the hiccupping sounds coming from Jinx's voice that the pink girl was crying. I shifted uncomfortably where I stood...anchored to her.

I heard a sigh from the stranger. "Awww....Jean....what am I ever going to do with you?" A beat. The footsteps of Leslie/Pulsade drifted forward. "Come here...."

Jinx's right arm—and body—surged forward and she hugged the stranger desperately. Shaking. My left shoulder brushed up against a new set of arms encircling Jinx soothingly.

And so be it....it was around that time that the white wall of hot blindness peeled slowly away from my black eyes. Shadows came into focus. The trees....the leaves...the grounds....the bodies beside me. I saw shapes...and those shapes morphed into a tall, blonde teenager in a white jumpsuit and with her arms encircling a sobbing Jinx by my side. I saw the stranger stroke one hand in the small of Jinx's back and the other caress her hair gently. My first fuzzy sight of Pulsade would have rendered her as a compassionate friend in my black eyes...hadn't I noticed the conspicuously huge assault rifle leaning to her side and other tools of an assassin hanging off her utility belts.

"There there....," Pulsade/Leslie said. She leaned forward and gently kissed Jinx's forehead before continuing: "We're all in this together, Jean. One bloody cause for once. There's no backing out now. We need your strength as much as we need "J"'s fortitude and my finesse. Let us concentrate on what's at hand....and not things of the past."

"I'm s-s-so sorry, Leslie. It's all my f-fault that you're in this...."

"I'm in this because I chose to be. In the meantime, let's worry about other partners in the project who aren't quite in this as a matter of choice." That uttered, Pulsade shot a painfully cold glare of blue from under her blonde bangs.

I shivered, but tried not to show it. From all she knew, I was still 'blind' from the light pulse. I had shades on—as always—so I kept my head tilted partially away from the two so that it didn't look like I was staring at them. But perhaps it seemed a little too obvious. Pulsade appeared to be an expert.....at whatever she did. She would have noticed if I was truly watching her and Jean.

But she didn't act upon it for some reason. And I became to realize that I was bearing witness to something hardly a soul (alive) had born witness to. Jinx the obnoxious witch was breaking down and Pulsade—a menacing gunwoman—was soothing another soul.

I guess even villains have to cry at some time or another.

"........"

I bit my lip.

What good is crying if you're born evil?

I clenched my fists....then relaxed them.

I sighed....I hung my head.

Titans......pl-please............find me......

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin's R-Cycle cruised down the country road. The tops of trees on either side of the asphalt math blurred off his reflecting helmet. He gripped tightly to the handles....only momentarily freeing a gloved hand to switch on the communication device in his helmet.

"Titans. Report. Any luck in your search??"

"When you say 'luck'...if you mean Jinx, then no, dawg. Complete washout."

"You've been searching the downtown area, right?"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Yeah, man," Cyborg nodded to nothing as he slowly drove the T-Car down Main Street. He shot his human and red-glowing gaze down alleyways on either side. "The streets are practically empty too. I'm guessing the news reports of the prison explosion and escapees have really gotten the citizens all shaken up. I'm hardly seeing anyone leave their apartments and take to the streets."

"If the streets are so empty, then that'd make it easier to spot something conspicuous."

"I know, Robin!! But I'm getting nothing!! Not even on my thermal scans! I know it's possible for a villain or two to seek refuge in the City under our noses...but that doesn't seem to be happening today."

"I stand beside Cyborg......"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Raven flew overhead. The tops of buildings and skyscrapers in the City drifted below.

Her blue cloak ruffled in the wind as she stared about with thin eyes.

"I've not seen a sign of any of the five escapees. And considering Mammoth's knack for destruction, Gizmo's knack for hacking, and Fang's knack for being disgusting.....there's a lot of explosive events that simply haven't happened. I think our crooks have learned a thing or two. Either they're hiding somewhere far below or they've left the City completely."

"Which leads me to ask....Tempest? Any luck?"

"Uh....yeah....I have one question, Robin."

"Go ahead."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Tempest waded through the thick sewage of the underground pipe system. He gritted his teeth and glared icily through the interior of the tunnel as he lurched on ahead.

"For the first month I've been with the Titans...we've had about five missions and yet somehow I've been sent into the sewer system a dozen times!! Can someone....come down here with me and share the pain of the surface-dwellers' feces???"

"Stop complaining, Tempest."

"Be quiet, Raven," Tempest hissed. "I wasn't talking to you."

"..............this is Robin still."

Tempest blinked. He bit his lip. "Oh...um...s-sorry." A beat. "Has anyone ever told you two that you sound alike?"

"No we don't."

"Uh...yeah you do, Robin."

"........this is Raven."

"Whatever!! Snkkktt—I'm finding nothing down here!!!! Sheesh....Poseidon almighty....the only creep I'd imagine harboring the insane inclination of making this dung-domain his habitat would be that Fluff guy!"

"Fang."

"Whatever, Raven."

"Robin."

"Nnnnnghhhh!!!!"

"But you've got nothing on Fang, right dude?"

Tempest took a deep breath and calmed down. "Right..."

"Same here. And no sign of Jinx either."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"And where Jinx is, Noir should probably be...," Beast Boy said. He was perched on the top of a tall tree overlooking the northern forests. He melodramatically scanned the horizon with a hand shading his brow. "Or better yet to say....where Jinx isn't, Noir isn't either."

"You're still covering the forest?"

"Yeah, Robin. And believe you me...if I saw something pink among all this green, I'd give a shout out," Beast Boy said. He sighed. "The dude's gone. Noir's long gone. Sheesh....I hope we find him and bail him out before...I dunno...Jinx force feeds him strawberries or makes him dress up as Princess Toadstool or something." A beat. "C-Could that really happen? Cuz I left my camera at home and—"

"Proceed with the search."

".....yeah, allright," Beast Boy smirked. He leapt off the treetop and morphed into a green falcon that continued circling above the region.

"I have an inquiry, Robin."

"Go ahead, Star."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

The Tamaranian girl flew over mountainsides and lines of trees. With her green eyes she carefully studied the landscape below.

"You related to us earlier that you had a 'hunch' that could possibly assist in our search. Is that still true?"

"It is, Star."

"C-Could it help in securing our poor friend Noir?"

"It's difficult to say at the moment. But it'll at least get us on the right track with some thing."

"Care to explain, dude?"

"Yeah, man, we're all ears."

"Truly...we are all lobed and ready to listen!"

"......ahem."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin throttled the motorcycle down the barren path.

"My thoughts have been on Mammoth and Gizmo. I think it's obvious by now that they're nowhere in the City. Furthermore....if they're trying to escape the City....I think I know how."

"And what's that gotta do with Noir??"

"This is the 'hunch' part," Robin said.

"Oh. Here we go."

Robin smirked some. "A while back...Jinx broke apart from H.I.V.E. This set her apart from Gizmo and Mammoth for obvious reasons."

"Yeah man....she betrayed them!"

"Anyways.....that was still a while back. And since then, all three of them have been in prison. If Gizmo and Mammoth have lost their ties to H.I.V.E. by now as a result of their prolonged distance in captivity.....then perhaps their animosity for Jinx will have lessened."

"They might be more receptive to her if she would ask for help...."

"Right, Raven. So if I'm to find Mammoth and Gizmo....I might possibly get a tie-in to Jinx. Possibly."

"Just where would those two goons be at, anyhow?"

"Somewhere that they could procure a means of escape through brute force and careful technological manipulation at the same time."

"Huh??"

"What else?" Robin said. "A freight train."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!" a woman shrieked.

"RRRAAAUGH!!" Mammoth lifted and threw the concrete bench over his shoulders.

Citizens shrieked and ran off in multiple directions across the train depot.

SMASH!!!!

The bench shattered into a hundred shards and cleared the area of all pedestrians. A panicked engineer or two from the parked passenger train jumped out of the engine and ran for the nearby forest.

"HAA!!! That's darn tootin'!!!" Mammoth flexed his steroid-induced muscles and cackled. "Scurry before the might of Mammoth!! Flee his mighty muscles!! Run away from his—"

ZAAP!!

"Owie!!!" Mammoth rubbed his shoulder and frowned at the floating accomplice beside him. "You're an annoying fly, you know that?"

"Wrong...," Gizmo hissed. His pixilated eyes glared. "I'm an annoying fly who's gonna keep you from getting us in over our snotbucket heads!!!"

"What's that supposed to mean???"

Gizmo gestured towards the emptied train station around them. "All of those ants you scattered? They've got a queen called the 'police'. And once that queen gets ticked off....it's back to the barf-hole with us!!"

"Awwww man....," Mammoth smirked and shrugged his heavy shoulders. "We're not going back to prison this soon!! Relax!!"

"We're not going back to prison at all in my book, crudlicker!! Now give me a hand..."

"What are you doing?"

Gizmo floated over towards the freight train on his jetpack. "I'm gonna make love to this freight train and give birth to a ticket out of here!! If you had any brains, you'd be helping out!!"

Mammoth grumbled as he walked ahead. "You think this is gonna make the authorities any less ticked off at us then bullying puny citizens??"

"The only authority I recognize is in here," Gizmo pointed at his skull. "So be a good meat mountain and give me a hand!!!"

CRUNNNNCH!!!!

"Yaaah!!" Gizmo jerked back, panting.

Mammoth held the shattered, wrought metal door to the front engine of the train in his grasp. CL-CLANG!!! He dropped it loudly to the floor, smiled, and bowed mockingly before Gizmo.

"After sir."

"Yeah, yeah....whatever," Gizmo floated into the engine compartment. "Less reverence and more railroad."

"Heh...whatever you say...," the giant climbed after and squeezed into the train as well.

They were both ignorant of a nimble, caped shadow touching down onto a metal awning lining the railroad tracks besides them. A minute and a half later as Gizmo got the train to start moving, the very same figure fired a grappling hook and swung effortlessly onto the top of the train...riding along towards the mysterious destination.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"You'll be having to move fast, Jinx. Better make sure your dead weight isn't so dead along the way. By noon tomorrow you should meet "J"'s accomplice in Blue Pine. No sooner or later. He'll help you make it the rest of the way to your destination. I can provide some cover and keep the heat off your backs to some extent....but once you're back home....you're on your own. "J" and I will be waiting for you from thereon out. And we'll be wishing you luck."

"Luck....heh.....," Jinx murmured. She was sitting on a tree stump and fitting on the last of two black boots to replace her usual platform shoes. My left arm lurched downwards to accommodate for her position. "....the only luck I'll need is something to keep me weeping over the loss of my fashion statement."

"You've always looked too.....bloody pink....," Pulsade said.

I glanced over at her.

The girl leaned on her assault rifle. She smirked somewhat as she spoke to Jinx and Jinx alone. "I was actually rather flattered by the outfit Slade gave you. Very proper and—"

"Plain??" Jinx smirked back up at her. "Hecate...if you weren't so kickass at everything else you do, I swear your boring taste in clothes would have driven me out the door."

"Heh...as if I had a door....," Pulsade said. A beat. "As if I had a flat for that matter...."

Jinx stood up, testing her boots out. "Someday, Leslie....you'll stop having to kill people. And me? I won't be on the run anymore."

"What then?" Pulsade folded her white-clad arms. "We'd buy a dog and call it a 'life'?"

"Pffft....something like that."

"...............," I stared at them.

Pulsade glanced my way. Two blinking eyes of cold blue. "I think he's getting ideas."

"Well that's not what he's here for...," Jinx grumbled. She ran petite hands through her high tufts of pink hair. "I'd better get him out of here before you're tempted to kill him again."

"Too late."

I bit my lip.

Jinx sighed. She seemed to be having an awful bit of 'luck' in pulling her trademark hairstyle down.

"I....I-I wish I could...nghh....get it back to the way it was in the middle of my imprisonment," she slurred. "Nobody would recognize the ponytail."

"Horses for courses, love," Pulsade shrugged. "You chose that ghastly hairdo. Now you do something about it. I don't want anyone but "J" and I recognizing you during this trip."

"That makes the two of us....or three....or....ah never mind," Jinx sighed. She looked towards me. "Ghost Boy....," she held her hand out. "Give me your sword."

"............" I stared at her.

"Give me....your sword," Jinx hissed with a frown.

Cht-Chtung!! The assault rifle cocked and was aimed at me from my right.

"Better do it now or you'll lose one head too many," Pulsade declared menacingly.

".........," I frowned. I slowly reached my right hand back.

Jinx waited.

Pulsade aimed.

Chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing! I took a purposefully long time in unsheathing Myrkblade. I glared daggers at both of them as I did so. A pause.

They both blinked.

SWISH!!!

Jinx jerked and Pulsade's trigger finger shook as I twirled the blade once...and pointed it hilt-first at the witch's hand.

"........," Jinx took a shuddering breath. "Cute."

"Not bloody likely," Pulsade grumbled.

Jinx took the sword. She leaned close to me so as to get the best slack with her two hands. My arm followed her right wrist as she held the sword in one hand and gripped her tufts of hair in the other and--

Riiiiiiiiiip!!

I blinked.

Jinx expertly severed her long, pink locks. It was an amazing feet...considering she had no murk powers to make the wooden edge of the blade truly serrated. I figured that her hex field had something to do with it.

Riiiii-iiiiip!!

More pink follicles fell away.

Jinx was now a short-haired thing. A thin mat of pink encased her skull. The pixie factor. She shook the excess strands off, sighed, and handed me Myrkblade back.

"That....unbelievably....sucked...."

"Speak for yourself."

Jinx stuck her tongue out at her.

Chiing!!

Myrkblade was back where it was supposed to be.

The pink girl looked at me.

I looked at her.

..........

"Let's go....," Jinx said.

"Wait a tick...," Pulsade gestured.

We both glanced at her.

The assassin brought a hand down and retrieved a sensor device from the side of her jumpsuit. "I think I'm getting something here."

Jinx raised an eyebrow. "The Titans? A-Are they following us?"

Pulsade's blue eyes squinted at the sensor.

"Don't you have your glasses with you?"

"Belt up. It looks like I've got a track on some old friends of yours."

"Friends? Do tell...."

Pulsade glanced over. "Gizmo and Mammoth."

Jinx rolled her cat eyes. "Those are no friends of mine."

"......," I stood still and listened.

"Well they're on a freight train headed north. If they're still working for H.I.V.E., they could very well get in your way, love."

Jinx sighed. "That....would not be good."

Pulsade flipped the sensor closed and holstered it on her side again. "Never worry. I'll take care of the sorry lot."

"You will?"

"Just make it to Blue Pine as fast as you can," Leslie pointed. "I'll keep Mammoth and Gizmo off your arse. As for the Titans...I can handle only so many. And as it looks...you've got enough trouble looking out for one."

"Don't worry," Jinx said. She pointed at the blinking light on the handcuffs. "As fate would have it....he's going to be hard pressed to look after me."

"......," I stared down at the floor and sighed frustratingly.

A pair of footsteps.

I looked up.

Pulsade was practically glaring me in the face. Her cold blue eyes and her blonde bangs frozen. She sneered: "If you so much as hurt a single inch of Jinx's head....I swear....I'll show you the ways I've learned of letting my victims live through fifty bullet wounds before the torture truly begins."

".......," I slowly nodded with a sweatdrop.

Pulsade stepped backwards. She holstered a sniper rifle suddenly. "Jinx...."

"Pulsade."

".............take care." And the assassin disappeared in a flash of light. Something translucent bounded off into the forest, and was gone.

"............" I stared after it.

TUG!!!

I gritted my teeth and stumbled Jinx's way. She led us—bounding—down the hill and northward.

"Keep up, Ghost Boy....," Jinx uttered, her right arm trailing behind to accommodate for me. A breath escaped her nostrils. "....we've got a long way to go."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

The train chugged its way down the tracks at a speed at least twice that of normal regulation. Trees and signs blurred by on either side of the rails. The ground shook with the transport's momentum. Four passenger cars—presently empty—jostled and shook as they trailed behind the throttling engine.

Inside, Gizmo had various gadgetry and mechanisms attached to the instruments of the engine. He controlled the entire functioning of the train with what looked like a video game controller attached by black wires to the whole mess.

"On this train...we break for no one," Gizmo smirked. "Unless we can smash someone or something backwards!!"

"Heh heh heh!! Hey...can I toot the horn?"

"No, Mammoth."

"I wanna toot the horn--!!"

"Go barf on yourself!!"

Mammoth folded his arms and stared out the nearest window.

A spikey-haired shadow stared back at him.

Mammoth dumbly shook his head and looked again through the window, blinking.

The shadow was gone.

"..........," Mammoth scratched his head. He shrugged.

A beat.

Gizmo silently looked through the front windows and guided the train along.

The floor rattled as they went over the rails and tracks.

Silence.

"Ya know...Gizmo...," Mammoth grumbled. "I've been thinking....."

"About what, scruffmuncher?"

"It's about H.I.V.E.....that's where we're headed back to, right??"

"Yesssssss.....that's the plan. Don't wear it out!!"

Mammoth scratched his dense head. "Perhaps....P-Perhaps we shouldn't go to them immediately?"

A beat.

Gizmo slowly, icily turned his head and frowned. "Say what??"

"You heard me!! Maybe we should contact some older friends first!"

"Contact them for what??"

"Well...for one thing...," Mammoth counted off his fingers. "We've been gone from H.I.V.E. for so long because of prison. The last time we ever worked for H.I.V.E. was when we got our butts kicked at Westhaven. And you know how much they'll want to whoop us for doing a job terribly."

"Mammoth...," Gizmo grumbled, "...the only reason we ever....EVER lost out to Killer Moth and the Teen Titans way back when was because of that no good fiberglass-headed witch JINX!!"

"You think I don't know that??" Mammoth grunted. "Jinx was the reason we ever got stuck with H.I.V.E. to begin with!! It was a tradeoff...and you and I were used as currency!!"

"The old team is dead, Mammoth...," Gizmo grunted. "They've been dead ever since we joined that loogeylunching Academy!"

"If you hate H.I.V.E. so much...why do you want to go back there so bad??"

".........."

Mammoth smirked. "I think we should go talk to Psimon."

Gizmo made a wretching sound. "For the love of sprockets!! Not Psimon!!"

"But Psimon is smart!! He'll know what to do!!"

"And how's that gonna help us where we are now??" Gizmo barked. "We're on the lam again, Mammoth! We've got the law and the Titans on our tales and only H.I.V.E. is powerful and seedy enough to hide us!! They've always been!"

"But we were also safe with Psimon!! Come on....the least we can do is go see him and then—if need be—he'll hand us back over to H.I.V.E. At least we'd be protected!!"

"I don't know.....it sounds out of the way...."

"Everything's out of the way of a train."

"Cram it!! That's not what I meant!"

Mammoth looked off into space and smiled. "Who knows? If we see Psimon...maybe even Selinda will be there to help us—"

"Rrrrgh!!" Gizmo spun about and zapped Mammoth with a tiny laser pulse.

ZAP!!

"OWIE!! Hey you flea--!!"

"Don't mention her name!! We are NOT going to see your sister! No matter what!!"

"But Selinda's always wanted to be part of the team! She'd help us out too!!"

"Selinda WAS part of the team. That's what bugs me!! Jinx took her place!!" Gizmo spun back and faced the front of the train engine again. "And from the way she looked last....it would not be good for us to cross her again."

Mammoth folded his arms. "You're just sick of her cuz she turned you down when you asked her out to see a movie two years ago."

"SNkktt!! I never asked your cruddin' sister out!!"

"Heheheheheh!! Pipsqueak Romeo! That's you, Giz!!"

"I did no such thing!! So help me Bill Gates, I'll blow up this whole crummy train!!"

".............," Mammoth replied.

"Mammoth?"

"............."

"The hairball??" Gizmo spun around.

There was a reason why Mammoth wasn't talking. Mammoth was covered in ice.

"?!?!?!" Gizmo glanced down.

A whirling frost disc had landed against the frozen giant's leg.

"Oh shitake!!" Gizmo barked.

SWOOOOSH!! WHUMP!!

Robin dove down from the engine compartment's ceiling and slammed Gizmo forcefully into the ground.

"Ooof!! Get off me, you gymnastic turd!!"

Robin gripped Gizmo's tiny collar and forced them to face each other eyemask to eye. "Trying to get back to H.I.V.E., Gizmo?"

"At least I am!!" the boy genius squealed and struggled in the hero's grasp. "Muscle mountain there has feelings for his long lost sister. Good luck interrogating me on that one! HA!"

THWUMP!!

Robin forced Gizmo's head up against a wall of instrument panels.

"Tell me....where is Jinx taking Noir??"

"How the Hariball should I know?!?!?" Gizmo cackled. "Mammoth and I could care less for that witch!! She took everything from us with her betrayal!!"

"She took everything from you but your criminal seed," Robin hissed. "You know how the mind of that pink sorceress works better than anyone else in the world of crime or crime-fighting. So guess, Gizmo. You're a genius...you should be able to approximate. Where would Jinx be taking Noir??"

"Out on a date perhaps??" Gizmo grunted. "She has a knack for flirting with everyone. And I do mean everyone."

"If you're trying to amuse me, it's not working," Robin said.

THWAP!!!

He flung Gizmo hard to the floor.

"Augh!! Brutalityyyy! Brutalityyy!!"

THUMP!! Robin's knee pressed into the small of his back.

"Shut up. Why is Jinx running off with Noir?? Why did she set the bomb off at the prison to begin with??"

Suddenly the munchkin underneath Robin's grip started laughing his squealing head off.

"???????" Robin's eyemask twisted the wrong way.

Gizmo chuckled, coughed, and hacked: "You stupid mega-dork!! You actually think that Jinx set off that explosion?!?! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!"

Robin's lips parted.

"Robin?? Robin, this is Beast Boy!! Respond, dude!! I-I think I've found something—"

"Uh.................h-hang tight....Robin out," he said into his communicator.

The Boy Wonder gripped Gizmo roughly. "Keep talking....," he said through clenched teeth.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Jinx rushed forward with me through the forest. Again, the movement was frantic. Hurried. Jinx panted as if she was out of shape. Or perhaps she was just paranoid?

But of what?

She got everything she needed.

Perhaps......

My black eyes narrowed as I trailed after her.

Counter Red Aviary......

I took a breath.

"J"......."J" sent me a message. 'Old Friend'??

I looked up at the sunlight filtering through the trees.

Why do I feel like.....everything is coming together. And yet.....nothing is coming together.

A beat.

There's a lot at work in the world right now. And for the first time....I-I don't feel privy to it all.

Jinx and I bounded over a stream. Our boots splashed in the water. We ran wetly off on the forest floor beyond.

Messenger.......Messenger, where are you??

"I....wish....you...w-weren't....so big....."

"????" I looked at the girl ahead of me.

She glanced back once or twice over her right shoulder. "Tall. You're so tall...and I'm just a petite little doll compared to you. It's hard to drag you places."

I blinked under my shades.

Since when were you so damn social? Don't talk to me.

She talked to me: "We have to....keep moving if....we want to be at....Blue Pine by....tomorrow noon." She swallowed. She continued: "I know we're....moving fast enough....to more than make it.....b-but I don't want....to take any chances...."

I exhaled through my nose. I stared at her head...a short butchered thing of pink follicles.

She looked back at me. She caught me staring. She looked up ahead.

"What's gotten you so....surprised about things, Ghost Boy?"

"........"

"Is it my lack of fashion sense for once??" she uttered. A breath. "My crying in your presence?" A pause. "The fact that I'm bi?"

I did a double-take.

I never thought that you were..............ohhhhhhhh.........okay......

I bit my lip.

We came to a tiny ravine in the forest. A fallen log stretched over it. Jinx nimbly jumped up and paced herself across like on a balance beam, one foot in front of the other. I followed suit the best I could—given that my hand was off balance by the handcuffs.

"Go on. Feel content that you've seen a bit of my personal life. Pulsade is telling the truth when she says she kills people who know her real name. It just doesn't happen. The same thing with who I really am. People shouldn't find out unless there's a damn good reason."

We made it to the other side and resumed our fast-paced sprint.

"Slade....he had every good reason to know me," she said with a frown. "Even when....wh-when I found out that what he knew about me—and what I knew about myself—wasn't anything worth to know."

"......," I glanced at her blouse.

The locket was hidden underneath somewhere.

"Are you scared, Ghost Boy?"

"???" I glanced up at her.

She looked back at me once or twice as we were running. "Are you scared that I'm going to kill you? Cuz you saw me with a close friend? Cuz you saw me cry?"

"............."

"Wow.....you really can't talk, can you?"

"..........."

She shrugged and focused her gaze forward. "I frankly don't get it. I don't understand how you could have survived this long with the Titans without being able to frickin' speak."

".........."

"And yet, you have. And not only have you survived...you've out-survived me," she griped. "You schooled me more than once...twice...and thrice. And if you can't beat them, you join them, Ghost Boy. But I'm not joining you....I'm having you join me. It'll do yourself and your friends and your City a whole lot of good if you follow along and forsake your stupid heroism. Heh....I know you can do it. Cuz you've done it before—"

YANK!!!!

"Augh!!"

I stopped dead in my tracks and pulled her roughly into me.

GRIP!!

I brought my right hand tightly around her pale neck. I glared intensely down at her. Breathing steadily.

"........," her cat-eyes narrowed up at me. Slowly her lips parted: "Your shades are a lot more transparent then you think, Ghost Boy. Deep down beneath them....you've got the black eyes of a murderer."

"............"

"I can see it. I can see many things. Fatefully minded or not....some of us are born as evil. Some of us....are born to be much better allies than any nerdy group of costumed superheroes can eclipse...."

"...........," I swallowed a sudden lump in my throat. Shaking...I released my grip of her throat.

She took a deep breath. She lifted her right hand and my left metal wrist. She nodded her butchered-haired head to the handcuffs. "That's all it takes, Ghost Boy. Refuse to give into what you really are.....your nerd-pals pay the price. The bomb will go off....and your career and theirs will be in jeopardy."

"Unless....you follow along....and don't pull any stupid TRICKS!!!" she shrieked.

"....."

"Got it?"

I....hate....you....so....much....."

"GOT IT?!?!"

I took a deep breath.

I nodded.

"If we face any authorities....I won't be the only one to stop them. You will. If we run into any Titans....not only will you let me dispose of them, you will fight them yourself. And when it comes to the point that even shedding blood will be an option.......you will not hesitate."

"......"

"Got it???"

My fists clenched.

And then--

SWOOOOOSH!!!

A green body fell down before us.

"Wha--?!?!" Jinx gasped and looked aside.

I craned my neck.

Leaves falling around him in a halo, Beast Boy stood up from a landing crouch and panted: "Noir!! I've got your back!! Let's take her out---"

FLASH!!!!!

A pink hex struck at his feet.

"Ooof!!" he flew back from the earth-shattering blow and landed hard into a tree trunk in reverse. WHAM!! "Nnghh!!"

Jinx's cat eyes glowed as she held out a pink-streaming hand. "Stay out of this, Beast Bastard!! We're dealing with things far bigger than you can possibly comprehend!!"

Beast Boy shook his aching head and clenched his teeth. "Shut up!! You're dealing with my friend!! And now you're going to let him go!!!" That said, he aptly turned into a green lion and pounced at Jinx.

I gritted my teeth and motioned desperately with a free hand for him to relent--

"HAAAA!!" Jinx jumped straight up in a pink streak.

"!!!" I was yanked up with her.

The two of us awkwardly flipped high through the wooded forest. As we twirled uniformly upside down, Jinx flung a hex bolt down at the green cat. I struggled to upright us on our descent, and we landed on numb feet together. TH-THUMP!!!

The hex blast had successfully tripped the lion so that he slid into a tree stump. The emerald animal shook its head, spun around, and morphed into a velociraptor. "Skreeeee!!!" The dinosaur padded towards us (Jinx) and leapt with claws flying.

Jinx somersaulted

I tumbled.

She side-jumped over my sprawled figure, landed on the ground in a stretched position, and fired a hex beam. "HAAA!!"

The velociraptor leapt high above the beam.

Jinx fired another.

FLASH!!!

The dinosaur morphed into a green weasel in mid-air, twirled expertly to dodge the blast, and landed as a green elf succinctly pressing Jinx's body down into the leafy earth.

"Ooof!!" she struggled in Beast Boy's grip.

"Game's over, Jinx!!" Beast Boy's green eyes narrowed. "Some lucky streak that was! Back to the prison with you!!"

Jinx's cat eyes narrowed. "Don't be so quick to assume thing......," her petite fingers touched the blinking light on the handcuffs. "You thought the prison explosion was bad? You know nothing!!"

Seemingly, Beast Boy noticed the handcuffs in the heat of battle for the first time. His eyes widened. "Dude!! Just what is th—"

WHAM!!!!

The hilt of Myrkblade slammed into his face.

Jinx blinked.

"Nnnghhh....," Beast Boy toppled backwards and landed dizzily in the grass and soil.

Yank!!!

I pulled myself up and Jinx too. I stood, panting, over Beast Boy.

"Nnngh....," the changeling stirred. He looked up at me, a red welt on his forehead. "Noir......J-Jordan........what are you—"

I swallowed...and slammed my foot into the chest cavity just below his rib cage.

WHUMP!!!

"NNnnnnghhhh!!" the breath escaped Beast Boy's lungs. He curled ....and was out cold.

"........," Jinx smiled. She placed her cuffed hand on my shoulder. "Now that's the Wyldecarde I missed—"

"!!!" I shrugged her hand off, seething.

".........well....if we ever had to split before....we definitely have to now," she said. She ran towards the north end of the woods.

".....," I looked down at Beast Boy's unconscious body. I had the sudden urge to leap down and activate the emergency signal of his communicator......or just hug him.

YANK!!

Jinx pulled me along.

"Now, Ghost Boy! We're moving NOW!"

And I followed under a gloomy cloud, sheathing Myrkblade.

CHIIIING!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"There isn't anything more to talk about!!" Gizmo gurgled in Robin's grasp. "Yes, someone set off a bomb in the prison! YES....people died. Yadda yadda. Boo cruddity hoo!! Do you think we cared?? We got our tech and our suits back! It was time to party!"

"The party's long over, Gizmo...," Robin frowned. "Right now...you're telling me who set off the bomb and who equipped you with your weapons!!"

"And I would tell you if I could!!" Gizmo squealed. The small compartment of the train engine shook and rocked around them as they throttled down the tracks. "Believe me...I don't enjoy being your fisted glove's tree ornament!! I think what's important to keep in mind here is that....whoever set off the bomb...it wasn't so much a person as it was an idea...."

Robin's eyemask narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come now, Robin....," Gizmo smirked. "You booger-brained bird!! You think so narrowly! No wonder you're not even half the genius that I am!!"

"Stop the tongue tap dance...."

"Ahem," Gizmo's pixel eyes thinned. "Jinx didn't set that bomb. I didn't set that bomb. But—for the most part—all of us set that bomb."

".............What?!?!"

"What I actually miss about Jinx being gone is her knack for knowing the ties of fate...," Gizmo sneered. "Things don't just fall down a well for no apparent reason! Take my genius for example!! I know that every wire and every gadget and every blinking light has a purpose! It's all interconnected to make a complex machine that really slaps the snot out of goody-two-shoes such as yourself!!"

"And what's this all have to do with the prison bomb and escape??"

"What I'm saying is....when enough bad guys weigh down in a certain area....their weight collects together and they're no longer bad guys!! They're badness itself!!"

"You mean to tell me that the pure essence of evil or some crap set off that bomb???" Robin barked.

"What I'm saying is.....there's a lot of evil in this place right now. And I rather like it," Gizmo chuckled. He cleared his throat. "But....that very same evil....when it collects enough......."

"Yeah????"

".....someone usually comes into play to terminate all that's left of good. So that everything will be purely evil and destructive. In one fatal stroke, death reigns supreme. Rather nasty sounding....eh?"

".......," Robin's eyemask narrowed. "You're not giving me any answers."

"Well maybe you're not asking me any of the right questions, maggot breath!!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

A hundred feet ahead of the speeding train, a branch of a high-stretching tree depressed towards the earth. A flicker of bent light appeared...then a bright flash announced the dazzling white form of Pulsade. She balanced atop the branch in her sleek, white jumpsuit and produced her sniper rifle. After firmly attaching a tool liken unto an rpg to the end of the barrel, she tossed her blonde hair, aimed the rifle at the distant, incoming train, and squinted her eye through the sight.

"'Don't you have your glasses with you'....pfft!! Rotten bird....," she curled her finger around the trigger....and aimed for the freight train's engine wheels. "Last stop, blokes...."

PFFIIFFTT!!!

With a rush of air, the tool flew off the sniper rifle's barrel like a rocket. The arrowhead-shaped object streaked towards the incoming train. It whistled in the air until it was halfway towards the target. Then the 'wings' of the arrowhead deployed and fell off like mid-orbit rocket boosters. What was left over was a bed-blinking dome with a swishing tail that lashed around and produced a shiny spike just as the twirling object met the steel wheels of the train.

SLIIINK!!!

The 'tail' sunk into the metal and the red bulb spun, firmly attached to the wheel. It beeped a few times....flashed a bright red....and—

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"So what are you going to do with me now, Boy Whacked?!?! I seriously doubt that you can carry both me AND Mammoth back to prison by yourself!!"

"Thankfully...," Robin gestured at his communicator. "I've got backup."

"Heh....like they'd so quickly give up their posts to attend the likes of you!!"

"............okay, now that was desperate."

"You've been interrogating me for a long time! Of course I'm all dried up, booger brai—"

PHOOOOOM!!!!!

A heated explosion shattered the left side of the engine. Everyone inside—including the frozen Mammoth—were thrown to the edge as the train started to wobble and shake and lean---

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SCRAAAAAAA-AAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAPE!!!!!

Sparks flew as the wheels shattered away and a good half of the leaning freight train grinded against the rails. A slight turn in the tracks spelled the train's doom. It lurched to the side, upended, and rolled nastily over and over and over.

The passenger cars behind the engine followed suit in a domino effect. Metal shrapnel and wooden splinters flew and spat every which way as the train rolled into the grass and bunched together from resulting friction and centripetal force getting entangled.

After a loud, groaning crunch-time....the mass of the train settled together....sputtered.........and billowed smoke and steam.....

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Jinx and I ran to the edge of the forest. We heard muffled sounds from a police radio.

"!!!!" Jinx forced us into a stop. She panted and knelt down, forcing me to do so as well.

Through the thin line of leftover trees, we saw a two-lane country road. And on the side of that road was a state trooper car. Two officers stood with a map placed across the hood of the car, and they were listening to and communicating through a walkie-talkie radio system to some unknown partners miles away.

"Copy that, 10-4. We'll be making a routine search of Burltown immediately. Over."

Jinx's teeth grit. "Decker.....damn....he's fast when it comes to organizing a search party."

A beat.

"Well...these people won't last long...," she held up a glowing hand of pink.

I gasped. I jerked to close my right hand around her limb.

She jerked her arm out of my reach and glared at me. "Listen!! Part of the agreement was you would NOT get in my way when I had to eliminate someone!! Didn't you get it??" she hissed.

I panted....frowning.

Suddenly, she grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Or maybe......you could finish those two punks for me? Yes....that sounds good. Why don't you go on and do that, Ghost Boy....since you so much dislike my exertion of force!"

"..........," I glanced down.

"Heh....just what I thought," she said. She stood up slowly and glowed her pink hand even more bright. "Well then.....since it's all up to me.......let's see how far I can make their entrails fly---"

FWOOOSH!! I blurred ahead.

"YEEK!!" she was carried along with me.

Outside on the road, the officers looked at one another.

"Did he just say contact was broken with both Beast Boy and Robin??"

"The Titans are none of our concern. We're looking for the convicts as much as they are. Remember what Decker said—"

"Yeah, yeah---"

FWOOOOSH!!

I leapt out of the forest with Jinx in tow.

The two looked up. "What the—"

"!!!!" I landed. I blurred towards them. I spun and high-kicked one officer in the chin.

WHAM!!

"MMmff!! He fell back hard on the concrete.

The second officer gasped and reached for his holster.

I spun myself...I spun Jinx....I spun myself again. I reached the officer and slammed my right fist into his gut just before he could lift his pistol.

WHUMP!!!

"Nnngh!!" he bent over, exhaling hard.

I uppercutted his face with my elbow.

THWAP!!

He tumbled back, hit the squad car, and slid down to the asphalt.

"Hold it....r-right there...."

I turned around.

The first grounded trooper had his gun aimed at us from where he was half-sprawled across the concrete. He panted and weakly held his weapon.

I clenched my jaw. I tensed my legs....

Jinx panted.

The main aimed and--

BLAM!!!

I blurred the two of us left.

BL-BLAM!!

I blurred the two of us right.

He pulled at the trigger again.

I dashed forward, skidded to a stop, and spun myself so that Jinx's pendulum of a body flew at the man feet first.

WH-WHAM!!!!

The man fell back hard....out cold.

"............" I stood still.

Jinx leaned against me....panting.

I glare down at her.

She straightened herself up, stood straight, and simpered. "Well then.....glad that's over with, aren't you?"

"......."

"Yup. Just what I thought. Now let's go."

She knelt down, swiped the trooper's keys, and marched towards the car.

"?????" I looked at her incredulously.

"We're getting out of here the fastest we can, of course!!" she cackled. "Or what...you'd rather carry me to Blue Pine?"

I groaned inwardly.

She opened the driver's side door and pointed at the passenger side through it. "Slide on in. I'm driving."

I mouthed: 'What?!??!'

"Hey....I'm old enough."

".......," I shakily entered into the car and slid over. I held my left arm up as I sat in the passenger's seat, giving Jinx the leeway to position herself in the driver's seat.

She slammed the door shut behind her. She lifted the back of the seat. She pushed the seat forward. She adjusted the rear view mirror. She checked the windows. The gas mileage. The windshield whipers. She touched the stickshift. She adjusted her seat again.

"..............," I stared at her.

She looked at me with a glaring cat-eye. "What?? I'm getting in the mood."

I exhaled with a sweatdrop.

"Allrighty....let's crank this baby up!"

"!!!" I lunged to the left as she jerked the key in the ignition.

And immediately the police siren went off.

Waa-Waa-Waa-Waa-Waa!!

We both jumped.

"Nnnghh!!" Jinx clutched her head.

I gritted my teeth, pivoted my awkwardly balanced body, and kicked the siren mechanism on the dashboard.

THWAP!!!

Waa-Waa-Waa-snnkkktt!!

The gentle purr of an engine.

"......th-thank you....."

I planted my hand over my face.

I almost hope Beast Boy DOES kill me after this--

VROOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

"!!!!" I was pressed back into my seat as Jinx burned rubber...screeching left and right a few times before finally finding a steady angle to drive on the road.

"I-I got it!! Luck is on my side!! Luck is on my side!! Luck is—oh wait....forgot to shift into higher gear...ahem---Luck is on my side!!!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Nnnnghhh....," Gizmo groaned. "Cram it....." He sat up inside the upended train engine and shook his aching head as bulkheads of metal steamed around him. "Frickin' stupid barfin' crappin' train.....how the hairball did we derail??"

He glanced over.

He saw a half-unconscious, groaning Robin in the corner.

He grinned.

"Well....at least something good happened. I wonder if I should stab his eyes in with my teeth—"

A thick hand reached down through the metal and grabbed him by the collar.

GRIP!!!!

"YAAAA!!!" he shrieked as he was pulled up and out of the wreckage and into the bright light.

"What the---?!?!" Gizmo gasped. "Mammoth!! You are.....un-ice-cubed!!"

"......," Mammoth stared at him. He shook icicles out of his red hair and goatee. "Yeah. Looks like our ride could use some ice though."

Gizmo floated by his jetpack and glanced around at the smashed train parts. ".......right. Anywho....what say you and I crawl back into the engine and kill that stupid caped gunk-eater??"

"I don't think we should do that, Gizmo...," Mammoth shook his head.

Gizmo turned red. "Why not?!?!"

A feminine voice echoed from the sidelines.

"Because you'd have the Titans even more mad at you...and they would surely hunt you down then."

"Huh?!?!" Gizmo turned and looked over. His pixel eyes widened. "Ah cripes....not you...."

Mammoth gasped. "Selinda!!!" He bounded over towards a redheaded figure like a huge toddler. "It's so nice to seeeee youuuuu."

The girl bent down, picked up a few blades of grass, and flung them at Mammoth. In mid-air, the blades of grass turned into iron plates.

SM-SM-SMACK!!!! They pelted Mammoth in the face and chest.

WHUMP!! He fell back on his butt and rubbed his throbbing nose. "Owwww....Sis?!?! What gives?!?!"

"That's for turning your back on me years ago!! I should shove a piece of meat loaf down your throat and turn it into hydrochloric acid, you stupid, ungrateful brother!!!"

"Now Shimmer....calm down....," Gizmo waved his hands and simpered. "We never voted for Psimon's decision to replace you. We went to H.I.V.E. on our own because we had to! And now--

"And now this is all about the same person who ruined my life!!" Shimmer growled, her eyes thin. "Jinx. It's all about Jinx!! That's why you're here!!"

"Sis....Jinx didn't set off that bomb...we don't know why everyone believes it!!"

"Yeah....besides, we hate the stupid witch now too!!" Gizmo growled. "She should have burned alive back at that prison!!"

"But this still all about Jinx," Shimmer said.

"How so??"

"Follow me and I'll explain it to you all," Shimmer motioned with a red-orange glowing hand. "There's a nasty chase afoot. And if you help us out, maybe your lives will be a lot easier. Consider it as my last attempt to be gracious to you sorry bunch of testosterone!"

"Who's 'us'??" Gizmo asked, looking suspicious.

"Psimon himself, you boobs," Shimmer smirked. "He wants us all to meet together. He's trying to rebuild the Fearsome Five."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Atop an overhanging tree branch.

High above and beyond sight....

Pulsade perched with her rifle tucked under her nimble arms.

Her blue eyes narrowed as she eyed the distant meeting besides the wrecked train.

She had a long-distance listening microphone in her grasp.

"Hmmm......'Shimmer'......," Pulsade blinked.

A beat.

She smiled to herself and turned invisible. "Eh.....I'll kill them all later."

And a translucent shape leapt off and disappeared in the trees.