147. Double Jinx part 4
"Here you go, Robin. A complete sensor sweep of the entire City. Infrared spectrum. Radio frequencies. Radiation signatures. Gaseous emissions. Sonic vibrations. Electromagnetic flux. Even supernatural reports from local mediums....," Cyborg said as he typed and produced a multi-layered map across the huge computer screen of the Main Room. It was all very.......bland. Blank. Clean. "Nothing, man." He swiveled around in his chair and shrugged: "Nothing."
Robin took a deep breath. He folded his arms and stood in the angled rays of the amber sunset through the windows that evening. The other Titans stood quietly behind him.
"If there's an explosive somewhere in the City....it's expertly hidden," Robin said.
"......," Cyborg looked at his computer program. A beat. He looked at Robin, sweatdropping. "Or m-maybe there's no explosive at all?"
Robin scratched his chin.
Tempest cleared his throat. "So....um.....wh-why're we scanning the City instead of searching for escaped convicts, again?"
"That's what I wanna ask, dude....," Beast Boy sat on a sofa with an icepack to his forehead. "Did—like—Noir whip out a Wile E. Coyote picket sign and just tell you: 'BOMB IN CITY'?!?!"
Robin gritted his teeth. "No....," he uttered. "I merely read Noir's lips."
"Read his lips?" Tempest asked.
"He is a detective after all," Raven said.
"Yeah....lord knows detectives are good with lips."
Cyborg cleared his throat. "All he said was 'bomb', right?"
Robin nodded with a sigh. "I know....it's vague. But Noir wouldn't have lied."
"Heaven forbid."
Floating nearby, Starfire suddenly gasped: "Could it be that Noir has the bomb strapped to him?????"
Raven spoke: "I know this might sound dark—"
"—go ahead, cutie."
Raven's forehead throbbed. She didn't look at Cyborg, but instead continued: "—but if Noir was likely to have himself blown up by an instrument of Jinx, I don't think he would be giving in to her demands as we speak."
"You mean he'd let himself blow up?" Tempest asked.
"That guy shows off all the time," Beast Boy groaned....wincing into his ice. "I swear...."
"Noir would only concur with Jinx's plans if he knows that she has an explosive that would threaten the City," Raven nodded. She added: "Or us."
Starfire gulped.
Robin's eyemask narrowed. "I should have....given him the chance."
"What do you mean, man?" Cyborg asked.
"To explain," Robin said.
"Explain?!?! Robin, he was driving Jinx's getaway car at ninety-miles-per hour down an empty highway. And from what I hear, he did it one-handed and handcuffed. Even if you could read a hand-signed sentence from him, do you seriously think he would have taken the time to remove his grip of the wheel? He told you all he could." Cyborg turned and faced the monitor. He rubbed his human head and sighed. "He gave us all he could....."
"And it's still not enough, is it?" Tempest said.
"Still....we gotta go with what we have," Robin said.
"Which is nothing," Raven droned.
Robin nodded. "The security of our City is at stake now. I'm convinced. Titans....we need to perform a City-Wide search and an in-depth, individual sensor sweep."
Mutual groans from throughout the room.
Robin frowned. "I'm serious. We can't take any chances. But at the same time—I acknowledge that this is a blind shot in the dark."
"Tell us about it, dude."
"That's why we'll run a simultaneous pursuit of Jinx and Noir. If we play our cards right, we can catch back up with them and perhaps extract some further information."
"Who'll be doing that?" Cyborg asked. A beat. He smirked: "Besides you, of course...."
".........," Robin looked across the room. "Raven."
The dark girl looked up.
"You'll be joining me. We'll embark on a trip up north, search the area for evidence, and fall back on the trail of Jinx and Noir again."
"......er.....okay," she blinked.
"Uhhh," Cyborg lifted a finger.
Robin looked his way. "Have something to say, Cyborg?"
"..........," a beat. The android simpered. "N-No. Sounds c-cool to me."
Beast Boy simpered.
"All right then," Robin nodded. "The rest of you get ready to search the City. Divide the place into four quadrants and take it from there."
"Beast Boy gets the sewers this time," Tempest groaned.
"Dude!! I do not—" he winced.
Tempest smirked.
"Raven....let's skedaddle," Robin motioned.
She stood up and swirled her robe. "Skedaddle we shall."
Suddenly, there was a chiming sound from the computer console.
"Now what?" Beast Boy groaned.
"An urgent message, perhaps?" Starfire said.
Cyborg swiveled and typed a bit on the computer. A screen popped up. The android smirked at Robin. "Looks like a certain Decker is wondering what we're doing sitting on our butts inside the Tower."
"Ay gevalt," Raven rolled her eyes.
Robin sighed. "Who didn't see this one coming?"
"Want me to tell him you ran off to Gotham to get a haircut or something?"
"No....," Robin grumbled and plodded over towards the console. "Patch me through."
-beep-
SNkkkkt!!!
"--cking stupid communicator doesn't work, I swear to Go---Oh, HELLO?!?!"
"Commissioner," Robin managed a straight face as he leaned to the mic. "I read you loud in clear." He quietly turned around and motioned for the four Titans to get to work.
Everyone but Raven rushed to their stations.
"Might I kindly ask what the idea is of letting two convicts and half of a state trooper car tear-ass down the Metropolitan Highway??"
Raven blew a stray strand of hair out from her face and folded her arms.
Robin rubbed his forehead and slowly managed: "The Titans.....and I.....h-have reason......to believe that.....Noir would be.....m-most safe being....left alone with Jinx."
"Ah....so it IS true! That hippie-haired samurai is in the cahoots with the pink fortune teller!!"
Robin's eyemask narrowed as he frowned. "Now wait a seco—"
"Yeah yeah....I know, I know......he's still on the Titans' side, right? And for some godawful reason he's being forced to work with Jinx against his will right? Robin....those two teenagers have cost the state nine squad cars, five bikes, and four guardrails!! This was no simple joyride that they went on today!! Try telling the four state troopers who were battered till their brains rattled otherwise!!"
"Okay....you want to know the truth, Decker??" Robin barked into the communicator. "It's a bomb, Decker. A bomb. Jinx has Noir handcuffed and has been forcing him to do her bidding—such as the devilish driving and cop beating—or else she may use it against him or against us or against innocent people."
"Whoah....whoah whoah whoah whoah hold the funnel here!! You're saying we're dealing with a bomb threat now??"
"I have every reason to believe that Jinx is up to some explosive scheme. That's why I have the Titans fanning out and checking the City."
"Perfect.....nnngh......Robin, can you tell me exactly where we should be looking to find this 'bomb'? Or 'bombS'?? Where should I send my men to assist in the investigation?"
Raven cleared her throat.
Robin sweatdropped. He scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I uhm.....er......."
"..............Robin??"
"We.....d-don't exactly kn-know where it is yet......," the Boy Wonder bit his lip.
Raven ran a hand over her face.
A painful pause.
"You mean to say that this is all based on supposition???"
"Well...technically—"
"No....there is no 'technically' or 'quite simply' or 'rubber plastically' about it!! Either there's a bomb or there isn't!!!"
"Like I said, the Titans are scanning the City as we speak for any and all possible signs of explosive material. We're not taking any chances."
"Maybe you shouldn't be searching the City!! Maybe you should be searching Jinx's and Noir's asses cuz by now that's the ONLY place where we're gonna find out any MORE secrets!!"
Robin took a deep breath. "Raven and I were planning on pursuing them again, sir—"
"Well I hope like Hell that you do!! My experts at the prison site unanimously agree. Jinx is the top suspect for the horrendous bombing and murder of dozens of inmates and guards. By now, she and Noir are halfway down the Metropolitan Highway. Do you know what that means, Robin?"
He swallowed. "They're out of your jurisdiction...."
"Right!! And it would not make me very happy to lose that marshmallow-haired suspect, Mr. Titan. It would not make me very happy at all....."
A beat.
Raven immediately stepped forward. "We'll find them, Commissioner Decker. Titan Tower out."
"Huh?? Hey, I didn't say you cou—!!"
-beep-
Robin looked at Raven, his eyemask wide. "Raven?!?! What do you thin---?!"
"Listening to him any longer is only going to get you more temperamental," Raven droned. "I can sense it .....," Robin seethed.
"............"
A beat.
Robin sighed.
His shoulders hung and he stared at the floor.
"I'm.....I-I'm sorry, Raven. It's just......I-I feel so responsible for letting this happen to Noir. And it was the worst of timings. The absolute worst of timings."
She blinked. "Since you promoted him?"
Robin looked up at her. His lips curved somewhat. "I....I-I did tell you guys that, didn't I?"
"More like randomly blurted it," Raven droned.
Robin winced. "Y-Yeah.....spur of the moment thing."
"The blurting or the promotion?"
"The blurting."
"I would certainly hope so."
"Didn't I talk to you about it, Raven?" Robin asked, his masked head leaning to the side. "About how I wanted him as Number Two—"
"—after Cyborg, yes," Raven nodded. "And I whole-heartedly agree."
Robin sighed with relief at that.
"......it would just have been prudent to mention it more formally to the other Titans, I think."
"Yeah....," Robin nodded. "Perhaps."
A beat.
He ran a hand through his spikey black hair. "Still....i-it wasn't just the promotion that made this all bad timing."
"Then what was it?" Raven asked.
"......," Robin motioned with his glove. "Come on. Let's start our search, don't you think?" He walked towards the elevators.
Raven shrugged. "Autumn weather is the best to sigh by."
"Uh........yeah....."
And the two were gone.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The autumn wind kicked at our hair. Loose edges of the shredded police car flapped in the breeze. We rocketed down the highway and--
"This bottle....of stevens...awakens ancient feelings...," Jinx grinned wide and sang with the radio. "Like father.....stepfather....the son is drowning in the flooooooooooooooood!!" She shook her butchered head of pink hair. "Yeah! Yeah yeah! Yeah yeah!!"
".........," I slowly turned my head left from the passenger seat and glared. Hard black eyes under dark shades.
The wind kicked at my long strands.
A crackling guitar riff from the dashboard radio.
Then....
"Say it ain't soooooooo-whoah-whoahhhhhh," Jinx's head rocked around. She tapped the steering wheels with petite fingers. "Your drug is a heartbreaker!!!"
I ran my right hand slowly over my face.
I sighed.
"Say it ain't sooooooooo-whoah-whoahhhhh.....My love is a life-takerrrrrr!!"
The song died down.
Jinx sighed, smiling wide. "I love that song. Makes me think of autumn." A beat. She looked at me with a Cheshire cat grin. "What about you?"
My face squinted against the beating wind.
"Yeah....good thing we're mutual," Jinx nodded. We passed by a camper on the left. "Hello!" she waved.
"..........," the elderly drivers inside blinked at our half-wrecked squad car as we sped past them.
"What are they staring at?" Jinx said. She shrugged and looked straight ahead over the dashboard. "We have every right to take this highway. Heck....it was miles and miles back that we ever nearly killed people."
I bit my lip.
"Lucky for us we picked the one state trooper squad car in the state that actually carries its own public radio!"
"Snnkkkt!! We interrupt this segment for an important news bulletin. Reports are in that the escaped convict—Jinx—is heading on a path of destruction north along the Metropolitan Highway---"
"Er....right...," Jinx flung her right wrist, yanking my arm a bit.
FLASH!!!!
A burning bolt of hex flew into the radio, sizzling it into oblivion immediately. POP!!! Hisssssssss! Smoke rose.
I rubbed my temple, groaning.
Jinx's right hand lowered back to the stick shift—and so did mine.
"Come on! Relax!" she grinned as she drove casually with her left hand alone. "It was the cops that got us so stressed to begin with! And we left them way back there! Out of our hair!"
A beat.
She simpered and ran her right hand through her now-tiny strands. "As a matter of speaking...."
".....," I twitched my right fingers to shake off the loose, pink follicles that had collected when my wrist followed her movement. I gave her a sad look through my shades.
".........??????" she glanced back at me. A beat. "Oh, for Hecate's sake....," she rolled her cat eyes. "We didn't hurt any of your precious friends! Sure...maybe a scuffle or two. But they left us way back there!! Robin decided not to mess with you and me. And—heheh---that's the best decision I think that bird boy has ever made!"
I frowned.
"Okay....maybe it was just me that he was messing with," Jinx shrugged. "The point is...we got away without anyone being really hurt....now isn't that something to be proud of?"
I stared at her with an amused look. My right eyebrow was raised.
She glanced back at me with similar suspicion. "What? You think I want to hurt your friends?"
I nearly spat.
She clenched her jaw and stared out at the highway ahead of us. The wind kicked pathetically at our faces. How low were we on gas??
"You think I ever wanted to hurt your friends.....???"
My right fist clenched.....then relaxed.
I glanced out the right passenger side and tried counting mile markers.
"Let me ask you something, Ghost Boy."
Drop dead.
"Have you ever wanted to hurt me?"
I winced.
I tried not to show it.
But surely she expected it.
"Like....before we ever truly did battle?? Before I kidnapped you. Before Slade. Before everything."
My black eyes narrowed.
I thought of Westhaven.
A cabin inside a forest.
The pink-haired girl squatting around candles.
A broken mirror.
The near-drowning.....
"You knew I was your enemy, right? You were barely a Teen Titan. And surely there was a code to uphold, right? And what code can be upheld when 'villains' are allowed to frolic in your way?" Jinx drove our clunker around two honking trucks and continued nonchalantly. "The fact is....I was a target. At some point or another....you—a nooby Teen Titan—would have to fight against the agents of H.I.V.E. I and my criminal ideals would have to be eliminated. And the only way that could be done would be for you to hurt me."
I gritted my teeth and shook my head. I ran a hand over my shades and sighed.
But it's not the same. It's not the same.
I stared off towards the passing scenery, exasperated.
It's not.........
"Do you have any idea.....any clue....how much Slade wanted the Titans to die?"
".......," I looked over at her.
She stared at the road. The profile of her face seemed different somehow. Perhaps it was the grossly short hair. Or maybe the way her eyes squinted in the wind.
She spoke: "And don't think you know everything about Slade just because you killed him, Ghost Boy. Things aren't as simple as that....ya know...."
My metal arm flexed a bit.
I swallowed.
"Slade.....Slade was a vessel of pure hate and obsessive madness.....," Jinx said. "He didn't live for life. Rather, he lived for death. He wanted death to prosper and stroke a path of absolute power across the land. And nobody did he want to test this out with more than the Titans themselves. For some reason.....he chose the Titans and the Titans alone to suffer. Even when everything he was planning turned out to be more and more ludicrous....he would not give up on his singular goal of flipping the coin of life over onto its ugly tails and reversing everything happy and 'righteous' in the lives of you and your goody-goody-two-shoe allies."
"..........," I listened....gazing off.
"Slade taught me how 'evil' you all were. He showed me lists of facts and a plethora of statistics that revealed your 'cruelty' to petty criminals and misunderstood people of society. He reminded me of how much you, Beast Boy, and Cyborg had totally and utterly wrecked all hopes I had of leaving Westhaven with the Khazza jewel in my grasp. He even went as far as to teach me the story of how the first five Titans befriended a lonely little girl named Terra.......and r-ruthlessly tore her already-vulnerable heart apart."
I winced at that. But....I still listened.
"And....a-and then he mentioned Faye and Fiona.......," Jinx's cat eyes were thin and firm. Her breath came out slowly from her nostrils to brave the wind kicking at her face. "He triggered the one part of my memory most dear to me......the one part of my memory that wasn't true. And I let him consume me because of it....and mold me.....and shape me into twice the killing machine that I was before. And it felt so.....s-so right being his Third Apprentice. It was like water. Flowing. Immaculate."
A beat.
Jinx sighed as she switched lanes. "But life is not made to be immaculate. Yes....there may be a road paved around the twists and turns of time by Fate. But that is not a straight and smooth road. It is something full of stumbling and confusion and just plain....w-wackiness."
".......," I raised an eyebrow.
She said: "I should have seen the cage that I was in. I should have seen how fake the walls of manipulation were around me...the walls that Slade had erected. But I refused to see it. I chose blindness. I chose arrogance and pride. And out of all this came anger. And it seemed so easy....so right....to channel all of this anger through the tiny tunnel vision of my apprenticeship and unleash my fury on those whom Slade had taught me were fit to burn. The Titans."
I looked at her.
I glanced down.
I looked at the blinking light on the chain of the handcuffs.
You're not stupid or innocent, Jinx. Stop being a hypocrite......
"Do I regret nearly killing you and the Titans for Slade on multiple occasions?" Jinx spoke. She shrugged while driving. "Hardly at all."
".........," I exhaled and stared off at the blurring landscape.
"But at the same time, I have the capacity to understand that it weren't exactly the Titans that I was fighting. But rather....Slade's conception of them. And my conception of them. Truth be told, Ghost Boy," she glanced at me. "I'm just a rogue. I've always been so at heart. Even if I wasn't made to believe in Faye and Fiona in the first place...I'd be betraying and ditching H.I.V.E. eventually. But it wouldn't be an attempt to 'convert' over to the good side. Oh no. I couldn't possibly be good. Heh....imagine me as a Titan. I'd probably have to get a uniform or something. And those blasted yellow communicators. Yeck!! Totally do NOT match anything in my wardrobe!"
I didn't want it to....but it did. The corner of my lips curved up slightly. I hated myself for it.
"It's not that I want to hurt people, ya know?" she said, her voice barely beating forward against the rushing wind of the highway. "It's not that I truly....deep-down enjoy hurting those cops or beating up on your or laying the smackdown on the Titans. I just want.....I just want..........I-I don't know what I want, Ghost Boy. But I'll tell you what I don't want. I don't want to be caught. I don't want to be held against my will anymore. I don't want to be owned or enslaved by anyone or anything anymore. And the way I see things now—through the thin membrane of fate—there is something dreadful growing in this world. Something destructive and deadly. A red phantom that wants to imprison every single one of us in a cold embrace of death. And that's not something I'm down with. I'd take prison over that any day. But as it stands....I have to keep moving. I've ditched the prison...and now you and I are going to the next phase of freedom. H.I.V.E. should have answers. They should have secrets. Their base is the Area 51 of the crime world...and a lot of unanswered questions on Red Aviary should be there. And I frankly don't give a crap if you don't understand. Cuz I don't think you want to, Ghost Boy. I think you're just angry at me."
I took a deep breath. I rattled my left wrist a bit, tugging at the handcuffs attached to Jinx's right hand.
Reminding her about what she didn't have to be reminded about.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," she smiled evilly. "I know you more than you think, Ghost Boy," she said. "You'd sever an arm or a leg before you'd turn against your friends or your City," she glanced at my metal limb with emphasis and continued driving. "Who knows how opposed you would be to blowing up. Heh.....if even you would be opposed at all. So I kept one of Slade's little toys handy. And you know very well that I would waste no time in letting it go righteously kablooie if you were to oppose me or be a general nuisance while we infiltrate H.I.V.E."
".........," I stared at her. I glanced at the lump of the locket under her blouse. I looked at the handcuffs....then at her concealed locket again.
Is Jinx looking for sympathy??
Understanding?
Compassion?
Is she trying to win my favor or support or something?
Why does she keep talking to me? What ever convinced her that I was so 'necessary' to her cause to begin with?
Why me?? Because I'm so god-damn self-sacrificial? That just gives her the right to torture me? To put me into this situation again??
My right fist clenched.
I tried to breathe peacefully.
She's right....she does know me more than I give her credit. She knows that I'm incapably weak to do anything but what she wants if innocent people or even my friends are at stake. She knows that I would give anything and everything for them. And she knows that I have already.
But that doesn't make Jinx and myself alike. Not even in the least. She's evil. And I'm not.
......R-Right?
I sighed and rubbed my temples.
I may be good.....but I'm not very good at being.....'good'. No sooner has Robin promoted me that here I am now........disappointing him. Letting him and the rest of the Titans down. Powerless. Jinx's 'apprentice'.
Silence....save for the whipping wind.
Our squad car clunked along. Jinx tried to compensate for the sputtering vehicle by shifting gears and putting pressure on the gas. Soon we were cruising along again.
If I'm Jinx's apprentice....then what is my goal? How do I 'graduate' out of her little school-thing that's going on here? So maybe she has me. Maybe I'm her most valuable 'ally' or something. But what's the use? What's the use of me? She needs me to infiltrate H.I.V.E.'s headquarters? I can do that. I can infiltrate and sneak into many things. I can do it most easily alone.....but I guess Jinx can't have me without having me on a leash.
But what is the point? What is the purpose?
Red Aviary......
What do Jinx and Pulsade know?
And
"J".......
Why do I feel like I know a little bit of what they're talking about?
Construction. Destruction.
The Spectrum. White. Red. Black.
Fate??
I looked at Jinx.
Fate is her ally. Fate allows Jinx to see and sever things within the ongoing continuum of the universe. If she spots something that is cause for alarm—and enlists a cloaking, badass assassin to assist her in tracking such an issue down—it must be supremely important. Something perhaps truly worthy of investigating and confronting with force.
A job for the
Titans.
I bit my lip.
Why couldn't she just tell someone about it? Why couldn't she simply ask for help? Maybe it's because nobody would believe her? Because she was the third apprentice? Because—by helping Slade—she nearly banished me back West, nearly blew up half the City, and nearly tortured the Titans to death or worse??
All elements of the proverbial rape of the Balance of Morals.
The reversal of everything that can be reversed.
Essence itself.
If Slade was right in his theory, he nearly rewrote this little pocket of the universe. And Jinx helped him.
Now she's on her own—more or less—and she's concerned with protecting the world from the essence of death and destruction itself??
She desires the cancellation of Red....perhaps in support of Black through reinforcement of White.
But even if she knows all about that....how is infiltrating H.I.V.E. going to help? And what's it going to help with?
What's going on here?
What's Red Aviary???
I stared at the locket-lump under Jinx's blouse again.
Jinx is......probably as confused as I am. If not more so. If she is on her own....if she is a rogue trying to escape the 'imprisonment' of death and destruction.......then why is she still holding on to the two of them???
"If you're trying to stare at my breasts—I assure you—you'll be hard pressed to find any big enough to be worthy," Jinx smirked.
I did a double-take. My eyes came off her locket and I scowled.
I wasn't----!!
She giggled. "Didn't think you were the lecherous type, Ghost Boy! But I swear.....the only thing you'll find under my bra is a can of mace!! Hehehehe!!"
I frowned.
God, I hate you so much. Screw the explosives. Screw Red Aviary. Screw.....um.....Weezer! M-Maybe I'll just whip Myrkblade out and slice your pink Annie Lennox head off right n---
"Uh oh," Jinx turned her head around and glanced back.
"????" I snapped out of it and looked back as well.
"Looks like we've got a bird," she mumbled.
A beating sound emanated through the air. Behind us, a police helicopter cut through the low sky and spun its rotary blades in furious pursuit of us. Where the police cars and motorcycles couldn't navigate, the helicopter was sent to act as a trained eye. It had scanned all the way north along the highway and found us. And—sure enough—it dropped altitude some and crossed the distance remaining between our broken and battered bumper and its deafening flight. A system of megaphones positioned on the 'legs' of the helicopter crackled in the air before uttering:
'This is the police!! Broken squad car!! Pull over immediately!! You are under arrest!!'
"Rather impolite to the people on the roadway, don't you think?" Jinx smirked.
I sweatdropped.
The helicopter came closer and closer. Other vehicles on the highway slowed down. A few in the opposite lane stopped completely on the median. The police were not going to let us get away without a little intimidation. The megaphone crackled:
'This is your final warning! Pull over now and surrender!'
"Take lessons, Ghost Boy," Jinx remarked above the winds. "Never talk that forcefully to a lady. No matter how pink she is."
I stared at her blankly.
She smiled back at me. "Let's for a walk, shall we?"
"?????"
"Heee!" she jerked left.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!!!!
"!!!!!!!!" I teetered right, yanking at the end of my handcuffs.
Jinx swerve us suicidally left. We barreled through two lanes of traffic.
HONK!! HONK!!! HONNNNNK!!!
SMASH!!!!
We plowed through the metal guardrail and median.
We soared through three lanes of opposing traffic.
HONK!!!! H-HONK!!!
SMASH!!!!
And finally through a final concrete barrier.
And it wasn't very comforting to find out—at the last second—that the highway was presently bridging over a forested marsh about thirty feet below.
"!!!!!!!"
Our half-a-car took a swan dive towards an array of tree tops. For a split second, the two of us were weightless. Time stopped. Sound died. The wind laughed at three different angles against my cranium.
Um.......h-hello, Death.
Jinx's voice oozed forth into my left ear during the slow motion holocaust....followed by her petite hand closing around my metal limb.
"And now....we jump."
W-We haven't jumped already—YAAAH!!
YANK!!!
She 'stood' us up in the plummeting car and vaulted us out and forward in a pulse of exploding pink light.
CRASH!!!!!!!
The squad care smashed into the trees and shimmied down violently into the marshlands below in a shower of broken branches and scattered leaves.
Jinx and I soared forward through the air, hand in hand.
The ground was a frightening twenty-five feet below.
THWAP!!
Her feet planted against a tree branch passing suddenly underneath us.
I found it too.
Breathless, I kicked off it with my boots. THWAP!!
The two of us leapt off the tree in synchronized grace. We flipped through the air, soared down.
The ground was twenty feet away.
Another branch.
TH-THWAP!!
The two of us bounced off it, flipped forward, and--
FWOOOSH!!!
The line of trees ended.
The marshlands bled into lake to the north.
We plummeted.
The waters lapped hungrily as our feet flew down first.
Jinx's body glowed a hot pink. From her legs up to her head.
In mid-fall, I caught her giving me a cat-eyed glance.
And I knew my cue...
FWOOSH!! I shot a curtain of murk down over my ankles and feet and—
Plant!!
We landed on the surface of the water. Her hex field and my murk powers went into work....holding us impossibly on top of the water's 'skin'. Waves warbled out and shook back at us as we took a breath...a second breath....and--
SWOOOOOOOOOSH!!
Jinx ran forward
I ran forward.
She blurred with pink.
I blurred with murk.
Fountains trailed behind us as we ran across the water, sped the distance of the lake, and landed explosively on the other side.
THWUMP!!!
We dove into the lake-side sand and came to a sliding stop against a dark, moist dune.
Jinx panted.
I swiped my brow.
The waters behind us settled across the lake in a line of 'footprints'.
The pink aura and trailing smoke around us faded.
We were safe and dry....for the most part.
"Whew....," Jinx exhaled. "Nothing like a little gymnastics to get the blood working, I always say."
I simpered with a sweatdrop. I repositioned myself and sort of.....'half-sat' so as to look back with a craning neck towards the marshland forest and highway.
The concrete structure of the express roads could hardly be seen. But I could hear it. I could hear screeching cars and rumbling engines coming to a stop and the distressed/annoyed honkings of multiple automobiles. The beating of the helicopter could still be heard. But the spinning rotary blades stayed somewhere beyond the exterior line of trees. It didn't fly out further to scout our location. Rather....the police were sticking to the spot where our car made its theatrical plunge off the highway and into the woods.
Where Jinx and I would most logically be. Presumably dead.
"I tell you what....it feels better and better after every time I 'die'," she smiled.
I gave her a tiresome look.
She instinctively adjusted a pink head of hair that she no longer had. She seemed to be facing a unique direction. West-North-West. "I think that should take them off our backs for a while. Leslie might scold me for dragging so much attention in the first place. But the ends justify the means, ya know?"
Yeah.....'I know'.
I realized that my metal hand—handcuffed to hers—was resting against a damp, wooden log lying in the sand. I thought of something. I glanced at the position of the late afternoon sun. I again glanced at the way her gaze was lingering West-North-West.
".........."
Without making too much movement in the process, I swiftly scratched my hard, metal fingers into the log. After a few finishing strokes, Jinx was already standing up and saying:
"Well...we've got a H.I.V.E. to throw rocks at," she smirked. She seemed very......'content' at the time. "Let's make like the wind, as if we hadn't already...." She winked.
I groaned. No sooner had I stood up that she was leading us—sprinting—through the nearby line of trees. West, NorthWest.
Our footprints remained in the lakeside shore...as did the log with its fresh scratches.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SWOOOOSH!!
Starfire flew up to the top of a building summit opposite of Kobayashi Tower. She half-perched herself to the flagpole on top and gazed at a sensor in her hand.
Cold autumn wind over the City kicked at her long red hair. Her green eyes narrowed on the device in her grasp. No lights blinked. No beeping sounds.
"Negative results in this district...," she reported seemingly into the air.
"Copy that,
Starfire. Keep scanning the downtown area."
"Understood," she nodded. "Claanu sif'l de X'hal....," she flew off.
SWOOOSH!!
"Flipper? How's it going?"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"You know, I wish you'd stop calling me that."
"Keep wishing. Report."
Tempest waded in the Bay Water adjacent to the docks. Fishing boats bobbed up and down several feet away from him.
"Nothing here now. Nothing here before now."
"Before??"
"I was here before, man. Remember?" Tempest smirked sarcastically. "Back when we were looking for 'waterproof' convicts. They're sewer-proof too, if you're wondering."
"Will you let it rest?"
"That's just it. The stuff in your sewers never settle! In fact—"
"Ahem. Continue on with your search. Try and....I dunno....do something to be more thorough this time or something."
"More thorough? Uhhh.....sure....okay," Tempest looked up from where he waded. He saw seagulls and pelicans perched atop wooden mooring poles. He narrowed his dark eyes and sent forth a telepathic blurb.
The birds seemed to tense. Their heads turned left and right...tilting side to side. A beat. They relaxed....cawed...and flew up into the air with a communal flapping of wings. Both the pelicans and the seagulls formed together as one cohesive flock before each and every one of them fanned out and flew over the City and Bay in three-hundred-and-sixty degrees of attentive 'scanning'.
Tempest smirked. "That'll make it quicker. And if one of them blows up....somebody could just blame it on God."
SPLOOSH!!
He dove down deep and continued searching the docksides.
"B.B.! Come in! Status report!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"When you say 'status report', dude, does that necessarily mean we must have some legitimate status to begin with?"
"What, you're turning up empty?"
Beast Boy was in the parking lot of a hospital. He turned into an anteater, sniffed under an ambulance, morphed back into a green elf, and stood up.
"Thankfully....yeah. Though I almost wish I could hurry up and find a bomb so that I can go to sleep before it turns dark."
"Is your head still hurting from the Noir run-in?"
"Uhh....if I say 'yes' will you give me a nachos break?"
".........keep searching, man."
"Awwwwww.....say, do I have to go inside the hospital? I ain't searching the bedpans, dude."
"You're on your own on that."
"Yeah. Thanks, Cy. Just what are YOU up to that makes bossing us around so right?"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"......."
Cyborg walked around the City landfill, his titanium boots making squishing sound every now and then while birds and flies swirled overhead.
"I think Robin's the one who'll be deserving some female dogging-to when he gets back," the android Titan grumbled. "Just do your part, Beast Boy. And I'll do mine."
"Yeah, whatever dude. Over and out."
Cyborg closed the panel in his arm. He sighed, scanned the nearby, smelly heaps with his bult-in scanner and muttered: "Somehow....I'd give anything to be where Raven is now."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Raven sat with her chest pressed snugly to Robin's back. She hugged him around the waist as the two throttled down the country road on his R-Cycle. They both had helmets on....and the path before them was relatively barren from the lack of motorists that time late in the afternoon. The sky was turning an autumn amber against the surrounding trees and mountaintops.
"Why does this place look familiar to me?" Robin said, smirking into his helmet.
VRRRRRRRRM!!!
Raven said nothing. She just held on.
"Th-That was supposed to be a joke," he said.
"Oh....."
A beat.
"Ahem. Sorry to drag you back out here, Raven."
"We need to find Noir and Jinx. It doesn't matter how far we go."
"Right."
VRRRRRRRRRRRM!!!
The lines in the center of the road sped by.
Raven found herself gazing nonchalantly at them.
"Raven..."
"Yes, Robin?"
"Do you think we've ever........ever truly showed Noir our gratitude?"
Raven tilted her helmeted head upwards. "I can't think of how we haven't. Since Slade's death we've been doing our best to support him and be by his side."
"Yes....but as Titans we show that sort of respect to every member. What I mean to say is....have we ever really gone out of our way for Noir? L-Like has gone out of his way for us?"
Raven took a deep breath. "First thing that comes to mind is when Mad Mod had us all imprisoned inside that digital movieverse for Soto's enjoyment. We vehemently refused to carry on with the 'theatrical production' unless Noir's safety was assured of."
"True....true....but do you remember when we were in North Carolina? Noir went solo to investigate Booker's ties to Nova'm."
"Yes, he did—"
"And it was Noir who freed us from Braniac's lair in Kansas."
"Uh huh—"
"And Noir risked his neck along with me and Sandy when the Puppet King took over the Tower. And he infiltrated Atlantis with Beast Boy to play the crucial role of Prince Garth. And just recently he nearly killed himself to get people out of Dr. Light's dark sphere."
"Are all of these obvious examples supposed to lead to one conclusion, Robin?"
"After Slade's death—as much as before—Noir has shown complete selflessness in trying to save his fellow teammembers and lives of the innocent. It's no different from the amount of effort the rest of us put in....only.....Noir seems to go even further into danger. He risks his neck often without asking. Taking monumental challenges oftentimes too great for him. He's....he's...."
"He's like you...," Raven said. There was the slightest curve to her lips.
A beat.
Robin 'slowed' the bike a bit....a cruising fifty-five miles per hour.
"I.....I never thought of that before."
"Sure you haven't," she droned. A beat. "Is THAT why you promoted him?"
"I....I promoted him because.....," He was silent for a small period of time. He kicked the bike back into its higher speed. ".....I promoted him because I know that.......that if it were necessary for him to replace both Cyborg and I, then he would still give his all for the team and more. I have every bit of confidence in him, Raven. I wouldn't doubt him capable of leading an impressive mission."
"That remains to be seen....," Raven said. "His gifts lie in following orders. We have yet to see how they work in his giving of commands. Not to mention that his teammates could....use a refresher's course on how to understand 'fingertalk'."
"True....true.....," Robin's helmet nodded. "All the more reason to find him tonight."
"What of tomorrow?"
"I'm convinced that the two of us are enough to track him and Jinx down," Robin said.
"And I'm convinced that this is going to be an overnight mission," Raven replied. "I should have brought a book."
"Oye....I should have known I was bringing your pessimism along for the ride."
"You didn't ask me along for my empathic powers and telekinetic strengths, now did you?"
"Actually, I did. Oh wait....I should have known better than to answer that. Never mind."
Silence.
"Are you scared, Robin?"
Robin tilted his head back at that a bit. His eyemask narrowed under the helmet visor. "Titan leaders don't get scared."
"Did you get the altitude reading on that flying pig?"
"I'm concerned, Raven. Is that enough?"
"You're experiencing a lot of emotions right now," Raven droned. "Both you and I know that it would only be a detriment to get in the way of your judgment."
"Wow....I swear....ever since the incident of Dr. Light's black sphere, you've been more.....more....."
"Democratic?"
"Interrogative."
"I merely sense that you are in need of getting something off your chest," Raven said. "And you've been doing a good job of that." A beat. "Until now."
"Yeah...but—"
"Not used to me evoking that?"
"To be honest.....n-no....."
Raven took a deep breath. "Mortuana.......meant a lot to me, Robin."
A pause.
"A part of me shall always be there. And Mortuana will always be a part of me," Raven said. She strengthen her hold to the Boy Wonder's waist as they rode on and she continued: "I have....felt so many living things and dead things become one in a singular flash. It's.....It's a changing experience. And having tasted what it truly means to be independent of my father's influence for once.......well......I-I feel that I am here for greater reasons than just a backup sorceress. You and the Titans....I know you all for a reason. And you know me for a reason. I've been wrong these years to sit idly by."
"I can't imagine a social Raven," Robin smirked.
"Neither can I. And it's not that I'm becoming social, Robin," Raven said. "I'm just becoming....," a beat. "....flexible."
"So...you're worried about Noir too?"
".....yes. Yes I am."
Robin nodded. "There's an even better reason why I brought you long."
"You mean besides my pessimism."
"Heheh....yeah," Robin said. He curved the two of them around a bend in the country road. "And—personally Raven—I'm glad. Even if it isn't 'opening up', I'm proud of you for taking these steps."
"Steps towards what?"
"Maybe someday being fully receptive of us when it comes to us helping you out."
"Whatever."
"Heh, knew you'd say that," Robin said. He glanced back momentarily over his shoulder. "Looks like Cyborg's been a helpful friend as of late. You notice that?"
"................................"
"Okay....," Robin faced back forward. "Moving on."
"Cyborg is safe back at the City," Raven said. "And that is a good thing."
"You're worried about him too?"
"Just drive."
"Heheheh....now there's the Raven I know."
"Keep knowing her."
Suddenly, Robin jerked. "Hmmm!!"
"What's the matter?"
He slowed the bike down and raised one hand to his helmet. "I'm picking a police signal in my built-in receiver...," the Boy Wonder said. He listened to something Raven couldn't hear for a few seconds, then revved the engine again. "It's the squad car."
"Jinx's and Noir's?"
"Yup. They've found it," Robin said.
"Good. Maybe we can intervene before—"
"It's crashed through two medians and fallen thirty feet off the side of the Metropolitan Highway into a wooded area."
"......," Raven blinked.
"Let's hope your pessimism doesn't get any stronger," Robin said.
VRRMM-VRMMM-VRRRRRRRRM!!!!
The two rocketed off northward.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Jinx and I managed to slow down....probably because Jinx was out of breath.
"Okay....okay....," she panted and stumbled forward, leading the way. We were walking through an old forest. The fallen leaves of autumn were just starting to change color, and they littered the floor beneath us as we moved on in a two-person chain. "...so we more....later on. Right now....let's just....fast walk. Y-Yeah....that's it....fast walk to destiny. Fast walk to destiny. Fast walk to destiny."
I was perfectly content. I realized then and there that either I was used to running a lot....or Jinx wasn't as good at endurance as I was. Which surprised me. Then again, she had been in jail for nearly three months.
I quietly let her drag me on. I wasn't resisting physically at that point. I realized that there was no point in trying to dissuade her from taking me to wherever the H.I.V.E. base was hidden. I wasn't about to set off a terrible bomb somewhere. And besides....I figured out a way to save myself out of this whole mess.
At least....I thought as much.....
She glanced back at me, breathless. "You....you.....you....st-st-still hanging in there?"
I put on a plastic smile and nodded. I must have looked like a sunglass-wearing vulture to the worn-out girl.
She looked ahead and lumbered forward. "Oh no....don't think....don't th-think I'm out of it! I'm not out of it! I'm merely....stocking up....st-stocking up on oxygen. Oh yeah. We'll again...fairly soon. Just you see. Running .....again...."
I leaned my head to the side.
I can never understand how she makes evil look so cute.
A beat.
I shook my head and squinted my black eyes under my shades.
Dammit....Titans....SAVE ME.
"Okay....so....l-let's pause on the running for now...," Jinx slowed her pace some. "J-Just for now, though."
We skirted around a steep hillside where the soil eroded away and rocky earth rose to meet the gnarled roots of trees besides the beaten path. Soon we were hobbling downhill at a leisurely pace. The red sunset glittered through the trees along with alternating showers and sprinkles of autumn leaves in the cool breeze kissing our back. The distant babbling of a brook licked our ears and foraging birds chirped in scattered formation overhead.
It was beautiful. I wished that I could have enjoyed it.
"So....tell me....wh-where are you from, Ghost Boy?"
"........"
"You got a Mommy? A Daddy?"
"......."
"A damn dog for god's sake?"
"......"
"I have a Mommy," Jinx exhaled as she walked forward. "At least....I once did. Unless she was 'made up' too...."
A beat.
She took a breath and continued through the forest: "She......loved me. As much as a single mother hounded by the dog days of capitalist society could love a child. She was a waitress and she worked the day shifts. I could barely ever see her. I got depressed a lot as a kid. Stayed home because kids made fun of my eyes and hair. That sort of stuff. Ya know. The usual."
I was silent. My left arm felt tired in having to stretch the wrist out so much to meet Jinx's position. At least I had a metal hand. I couldn't imagine what a painful number the handcuffs were playing on the little witch's skin.
"I haven't seen my mother in nearly four years....," Jinx muttered. She padded softly down the inclined forest ahead of me. "I've been through the Fearsome Five, H.I.V.E. and Slade since then. I feel....I feel like I'm actually twenty-six instead of sixteen. It's....it's so strange. Or is it?" A beat. "I-I guess the days of a villain are up for grabs once she starts counting the years it's been since she started busting heads in."
I took a deep breath.
Some of us are born evil. No matter what excuses we can grab ahold of.
"Ever think that time flies by, Ghost Boy?" Jinx glanced back at me. She smirked somewhat. "Or should I say 'Jordan'?"
I frowned.
"Yeesh....so edgy...," Jinx faced ahead again. "And to think....I'm the villain! I'm being all mushy and sharing about my past, and you're the one with the mean-looking, clenched jaw!!"
I rolled my black eyes under my shades.
How the Hell can I even talk to you??
My heart stopped at that. I suddenly realized....after nearly twelve hours of being stuck with the one girl in the entire world that I hated, I was starting to feel lonely.
Again.
My heart ached for my laptop and the instant message window.
"I bet you lost your parents, huh?" she rambled on. "I bet you were sitting down, having a picnic, and then robbers drove by in a van and shot them all dead in front of your face and shot you in the neck too. And you survived and balled your eyes out or something and vowed to strike crime down from here on after."
I sighed.....weathering it.
"Oh! I know! Your parents are VILLAINS! Yeah! You're from a long line of diabolical masterminds. And y-you're ashamed of it. So you live a life of vigilantism to make up for the guilt of being born from such evil ilk!! Hehehe...I'm so smart sometimes!!"
I dragged my feet some in following her.
"Hey! Stop pouting! Hurry up or something blows up!! Remember??"
I groaned inwardly and quickened myself.
"I still have an itchy-trigger-finger. Got it?"
"........"
"Fine, don't humor me," Jinx huffed. "Your family's probably dead anyway. It happens to most of us."
I exhaled.
My family's alive.
I just.....
I don't know where they are.....
"Guess you feel pretty at home with the Titans, huh?"
I bit my lip.
"And if you think I'm about to berate you and make you feel bad for associating with that bunch of losers---ahem---I'm not."
I raised an eyebrow.
We rounded a huge tree trunk and continued our autumnal descent. As we passed by it, I grazed my metal fingers against the bark. I made a few quick scratches....and we were off.
"I know what it's like. When I first joined H.I.V.E......I would have been mince meat before the student body if it wasn't for Leslie. Pulsade took care of me. She beat up anyone who tried to massacre me during my first few days of training. She even taught me the....hehe....gymnastics I know. I perfected them of course...," she bore an obscenely cute posture of pride and continued on, "...but she doesn't think much of it. Besides...she escaped from H.I.V.E. after her first year at the academy. I....I-I sorta drew inspiration from her. In fact...while she was free on the outside, she supplied me with information regarding the Khazza jewel. And so I signed up for the Westhaven mission."
She looked back at me with an outrageously, bubbly smile.
"And that's how you and I met!! Isn't it just delicious??"
I gave her the finger.
"Hehehe....my thoughts exactly," she turned around and practically frolicked us forward.
I gritted my teeth.
After a beat, Jinx's pace returned to normal. She let out a reminiscing sigh and said: "Leslie.....L-Leslie is the one true friend I have. And when all you have in life is one true friend, Ghost Boy....there becomes something very special about that friendship. Something....something precious. And Leslie and I....we're......v-very precious. For a while there—after my sisters—I would defend the two of us at any cost. And I still will. Even though I know Leslie could kill twice as many people as I could four times over....I'm willing to defend her with every tool of Fate that I have at my disposal. She's like....she's like 'home' to me. I realize that now. She's home with eyes and a heart."
A beat.
-Clip-
"????" I craned my neck.
Jinx had the locket in her grasp. The two faded photos of her 'sisters' stared into the fading rays of the sunset.
"For....F-For a tragic moment in time....I had this as my home. This tiny....insignificant....peace of crap......."
".......," I breathed.
"And....and I still have it on me," she sighed. A beat. Her shoulders strengthened again from sagging. "As a reminder. A reminder that my old legacy is behind me."
I leaned my head to the side.
-Flip-
-Snap!-
"And a new goal in front of me," she slipped the locket back down the front of her blouse via chain. "Something real. And something....n-not so alone anymore. With H.I.V.E., Mammoth, Gizmo, Slade....I was truly alone. But not anymore."
A beat.
She glanced at me. "And no....I'm not coming onto you or anything."
I smirked.
We pressed onward a bit quicker.
"Besides...," she giggled. "....I know your secret."
"???????"
"It's okay.......hehehe.....I think it's cute."
My lips parted somewhat.
What??
"It's also kinda funny. Considering all the high school fangirls with your posters and pictures and stuff. The 'handsome Titan'. Well of course you're handsome, silly. But it always works that way, doesn't it?"
What in the freakin' Hell is she talking about--..........wait a second.....
"So tell me....is it hard working alongside Robin?"
I.....am not gay.
"Wearing those green tights. Rowwwr."
I'm not gay!!
"Always swinging that big stick of his around!"
I'm not gay!! You—snnnkkktkkk...ARGH!!!
"Hehehe. And what about Beast Boy? You're not a cradle robber, are you??"
For the love of Jerry Lewis....my kingdom for a god damn telepath!!!
Jinx was silent for some reason or another.
Wait....earlier didn't she accuse me of looking at her--
"......."
Oh. I get it..........I'm not bisexual either!!
I bumped into something.
I blinked. I gained focus.
I had bumped into Jinx.
"Shhhh!" she stupidly hissed, her handcuffed finger held before my face.
"............"
Silence.
Leaves slowly drifted downward around us in a halo. The red light was fading more and more. The evening began to wane sorrowfully.
My black eyes narrowed. I slowly tilted my head up and scanned the horizon through my shades.
".........."
"Did you hear that??" Jinx whispered.
I tilted my head to the side.
A ......
I .........swiiiiiiiIIISH!!!
"!!!!"
CHIIIIING!!!!
Jinx flinched as I pulled Myrkblade out with my right hand and twirled it behind me.
CL-CL-CL-CLANK!!!!
Through spatial sense, I 'felt' four streaming anomalies and slashed hard at them. They shattered like glass and littered the floor in the form of white dust.
And then they were no more.
".......," I panted.
Jinx stood up, shivering some. "W-Were those just....kn-knives?"
Some fragile ....
"In the trees!!" Jinx exclaimed, pointing upwards.
"!!!!" I looked up.
A shadow jumped and leapt overhead and--
SWIIIIIISH!!!
Something sharp and metallic flew down at us.
Jinx gritted her teeth and shot a hex bolt straight up.
FLASH!!!
CRAAACK!!!
The metallic object split in half and embedded into the ground on either side of us.
TH-THUNK!!!
SWIIIIISH!!!
Another object flew from the same darting shadow in the trees.
"Nnngh!!" Jinx flew to the floor and cowered, her dainty hands covering both sides of her shorthaired head.....which forcefully yanked me down to kneel beside her. THWAP!!!
THUNK!!!!
Something sharp landed barely between us.
I looked at it. I did a double-take.
It was a leaf....but just not any leaf. One constructed out of serrated silver. Like a super-fancy shuriken. And yet...it looked so natural. Like all the organic leaves floating down around us.
What in the tap-dancing Hell??
"Shimmer....," Jinx breathlessly murmured.
"?????" I looked at her.
"Shimmer's back. But.....she was locked up! In order for that to happen......," Jinx's cat eyes widened. "The Fearsome Five....."
I trembled. I looked up for the shadow.
YANK!!!
I stumbled up to my feet as a sprinting Jinx was suddenly dragging me towards a distant clearing in the forest. "Unless you want to be a pin-cushion, hurry!! If either one of us dies, the bomb goes off!! Not good for you!!"
I panted.
How's it not good for me all of the sudden??
Regardless, I quickly followed her. And it was a good thing too. Razor-sharp leaves were slicing into the earth right behind my heels.
THUNK!! TH-THUNK!!
THUNK!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
It was near-night around the Metropolitan Highway.
Police lights swirled around the shattered concrete overpass above. Electric lanterns attached to branches of the tall trees below illuminated the marshland. Plastic tape—awkwardly stretched in a triangle from tree trunk to tree trunk—surrounded the collapsed half-a-squad-car laying upside down in the muddy marsh. State troopers and investigators stared closely at the wreckage. Photographs were taken, the flashes illuminating the scenery. Officials muttered to each other in grim fashion and paced around the thick muck of the locale.
Up above—on a stretching tree limb—both Robin and Raven were perched. The bird Titans.
"No body. No foot prints. No leftover evidence whatsoever......except a pair of keys," Raven droned. A beat. "Guess we should still be worried."
Robin rubbed his chin. "Hmmm....I don't know."
"Please tell me the detective has an idea."
"Hmmm....," Robin smiled. "The detective has entered the building."
Raven folded his arms. "You don't say."
Robin gestured: "Why would Jinx spontaneously drive a suicidal hulking piece of aluminum crap across the road?"
"To get to the other side?"
".........leave it to a moment when Beast Boy and Cyborg are both absent for you to make a joke."
"Heh."
"Ahem," Robin returned to the topic: "Jinx has an appetite for destruction. But her appetite is warranted.....for once she's eaten her fill of chaos, order blooms."
"Uh huh."
"Jinx is an acrobat. She is also a criminal. That means that she likes to flip around a lot...and break laws. In this case, the law of gravity."
Raven eyed the obviously-smashed piece of vehicular hardware beneath them. "Uhm....explain to me where gravity lost out."
"Where the bodies are missing."
"Okay.....," Raven blinked. "Jinx and Noir can suddenly fly now?"
"No....but they can jump."
"On what?"
"...........," Robin glanced down.
So did Raven.
They saw where their feet were planted against the tree limbs.
"Oh....right....," Raven hummed.
"Right indeed. I'm fairly sure they bailed at the last second and used the collapsed car to thwart the cops."
"You mean Jinx bailed out. Noir was along for the ride, undoubtedly."
"True. I was speaking in general."
"Uh huh."
"Now....they were originally heading north....under that theory.....let's assume............," Robin's voice trailed off and instead he positioned himself until he gazed in a northerly direction through the trees. He pointed outwards.
"Ally-oop?" Raven droned.
"Yup. Ally-oop me."
"Suit yourself....," the dark girl produced a 'platform' of black energy. The two stepped onto it and floated through the darkening evening towards the edge of the forest clearing. "Looks like they would have had quite a bit of wooden jungle jims to work through."
"They're young," Robin smirked. "It happens."
"........"
The two Titans floated out into a clearing. A lake stretched before them. Dark waters shimmering dully in the late sunset light.
"Okay....so they came here to drown. Maybe we should have brought our scuba gear."
"Noir can run on water, remember?"
"Yes....but Jinx?"
"........."
"Why do I even ask...."
"There!!" Robin pointed a green gloved hand.
Raven squinted. "I'm afraid I don't see—"
"The riverbank! B-By the clearing!!"
"Where the sand is?"
"Take us down there!"
"Okay....."
Raven lowered the two of them down by the water's edge....but neither of them dropped down.
There were already undisturbed footsteps in the soft ground. Two sets. One large. One small. But both footsteps seemed....paired. Side by side. Bound together....
"They were here....," Robin said. He gazed back through the trees and easily caught sight of the shimmering aura of a police light or two. "They were here....and we're the only ones who know."
"And I bet you're going to keep it a secret for the Commissioner's sake," Raven droned. "Especially since Jinx has become his new 'trophy'."
"Hey....whatever so much as slightly makes up for what happened this morning," Robin suddenly sighed. "And still...not enough."
"......."
"......," Robin's eyemask narrowed. He leaned forward. "Wait a second...."
"What is it now?"
"Take me over to where the trees start...."
Raven floated the black platform over. She gently lowered Robin to the earth. He jumped and landed someplace where vegetation grew and the footsteps weren't located. He knelt down and looked closely at a log. A few scratches were legibly present in the soft wood. "There's....a message here."
"A message?" Raven floated beside him.
He nodded slowly. "Like it was....etched in somehow."
"By who?"
"Well, we can rule out Jinx—I think."
"Uh huh. So, Robin. What did Noir send us?"
Robin fingered the log. He stared at it closely.
'17 W'
"Seventween double-u????" Raven remarked.
A beat.
"A l-longitudinal coordinate?" she suggested, glancing at Robin.
"That's what I first thought," he nodded. "But 17 West?? That's crazy! What would he mean by that?"
"Perhaps he is trying to give us a quantity of something?" Raven remarked. "Such as 'seventeen watchguards' where he is being held....er....or something."
Robin took a deep breath. He stood up. "Remember that number. It may come in handy later."
"Later??" Raven blinked. "What about now?"
"Now....," the Boy Wonder faced the forest. "We get acquainted with the woods. And hopefully soon....we'll thusly get reacquainted with both our friend and ally."
Raven stared into the woods. "Hmmm....a dark forest on a cold, autumnal night." A beat. Her lips curved somewhat. "I think I can do that."
"Wish Cyborg was here?"
"........I beg your pardon?"
Robin shook his head. "Never mind, let's go."
"Robin, I revoke my begging of your pardon—"
"I said let's GO!!!"
Raven groaned and floated lethargically after the sprinting Titan Leader.
Into the woods....
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"There's a crossing up ahead!" Jinx panted. She led us blurringly through the end of our line of trees. "Hurry! We're almost out of the thick of it!!"
"........," I ran swiftly behind her, our wrists attached. I glanced desperately behind me as I dragged Myrkblade. I saw lots of shadows...but none pursuing us.
Was this 'Shimmer' gone?
I looked ahead as we broke through the tree clearing.
We emerged onto a cliff. A huge ravine stretched over us...carved into the forested countryside. As if remarkably predicted ahead of time by the pink sorceress, there stretched a bridge crossing the ravine. A rickety, wooden bridge. The age showed on it. It stretched suicidally high over a scattering of hard rocks and water rapids far down below. Splashing sounds echoed up the walls of the ravine and into our ears on that slowly forming night.
The Sun was nearly eclipsed by the horizon. The air felt twice as thin. The wind had died down.
"Quick!" Jinx lead me to the bridge. She took just one step and the whole structure creaked loudly. She winced—tried not to show it—and dragged me across desperately. "Maybe if we get to the other side first, we can—"
Z-ZAP!! ZAP!!!
Bright bursts of yellow energy flew into the rocky Cliffside on the other side of the bridge.
"!!!" Jinx gasped and came to a stand still.
"......," I jolted to a stop beside her. Breathing slowly....with uncertainty.
The two of us were stuck in the middle of the bridge as a small, dark figure floated down to a stand-still in front of us.
"End of the line, roadwrecks!!" Gizmo cackled.
Jinx frowned. "Gizmo..."
"Jinx....," he grinned.
"Where's the big guy?"
STOMP!!!
Mammoth emerged from the forest and stood beside Gizmo on the far side of the bridge. He cracked his knuckles and grinned a monster grin. "Nice haircut. It makes you look like a corpse. Very appropriate for tonight."
"You don't say...," Jinx smirked half-a-cheshire. "Don't mind us as we bolt for it then—"she began to turn us around.
SW-SW-SW-SWISH-THAP!! A dark shadow flipped out from the forest behind us and landed nimbly on the cliffside opposite of Mammoth and Gizmo. The figure turned out to be a nimble, tightly-clad strawberry-blonde with a devilish grin and even more devilish eyes. Nimble fingers of glowing maroon danced against her hips.
"Well....if it isn't everyone's favorite cute fugitive."
"Heh...look who's here," Jinx blinked. "Superbitch."
I winced.
"You're one to bite," Shimmer smirked. "Maybe someday you'll catch your tongue. You'll be as mute as your love-toy you got with you."
"He's not my love-toy," Jinx said. She smirked a bit. "Let's just leave it at slave."
"......," I glared at her.
How about.....eunich?
"I do thank you for taking part in this grand experiment, Jinx," Shimmer said.
"I'm afraid I've not been clued in."
"Well, it's rather simple....really...," Shimmer knelt down daintily and took two leaves in her fingers. "You provide the flesh. You wear it around your bones. Then you expose the jugular." In a glow of orange-red light, she solidified one leaf and then the other into sharp sheathes of organically-shaped silver and platinum respectively. "The whole point of the experiment is to see how quick you die, I suppose."
"Go on, Shimmer....do your worst...," Jinx raised a pink-glowing hand. "See if it takes back my pleasure at once screwing you over in every metaphoric sense of the term. You'll find out sure enough....," the witch grinned. "....the experiment will be a failure."
Again I winced.
Shimmer frowned...but composed herself. "Actually....I didn't necessarily say it was going to be my responsibility to enact the experiment."
Jinx seemed confused at that....which wasn't a pretty sight for me. She raised a perplexed eyebrow and stood numbly atop the rickety bridgework beneath us.
"And neither are we gonna bash your brains in!!" Mammoth growled. "In case you were wondering!!"
"Yeah...as much as we would love to squish your crud-guts into goo....we're going to sit back and enjoy the spectator sport!"
Jinx's cat eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And just who's the referee of this sport?"
STOMP!!
The cliffsides shook. The bridge wobbled. Jinx and I leaned against each other to maintain our balance.
STOMP!!!
STOMP!!
"Why.....," Shimmer shrugged with a grin. "The latest member of the Fearsome Five, of course!! Sorry you haven't been introduced before now. You only—I dunno—betrayed us all twice over!!"
STOMP!!!
STOMP!!!
STOMP!!!
Jinx winced. She whispered aside to me: "I....uh....kinda sorta did do that, didn't I? Eh heh heh."
I sweatdropped. With each successive stomping sound, I grew more and more complacent.
You know.....this isn't really my fight to begin with?
I glanced at the light on the handcuffs.
What's a few innocent limbs or skin patches anyway??
I snapped out of that REAL quick.
STOMP!! STOMP!! STOMP!!
The forest from which we exited started to shake. Birds flew out of the trees, cawing loudly. A red-orange glow poked out through the tree trunks. And then--
CRUNNNNCH!!!
Full-sized trees were pushed over effortlessly as a seven-and-a-half-foot tall metal monstrosity walked our way. A man suited up with heavily beefed armor of titanium.
Glowing Titanium.
I merely shook in my boots.
Jinx—on the other hand: "Hecate.....," she murmured. "Neutron. Neutron is out too....this is nuts...."
I did a double-take.
Neutron?!?!?!
STOMP!!! STOMP!!! STOMP!!!
I looked desperately at Jinx.
"Uhm.....," she bit her lip. "....this is....a bad guy who....um....was only turned in once."
"........................"
".........................b-by Superman."
I winced a third time.
"This is his initiation...," Shimmer smirked proudly. "Believe it or not....we kids are the veterans here. I think it's time we let our nuclear nooby have a little run-through....by running through your brains."
"Okay.....uhm....," Jinx raised her hand. "Can any 'bad person' these days be anymore lame than that??"
"Hey there, lovers....," an adult voice hissed amusedly from Neutron's glowing helmet as he stomped mightily towards us. "Planning to live long? Well I got your half-lives right here!!"
Jinx sweatdropped. "I stand corrected."
"Mr. Tyron....," Shimmer smiled up at the glowing behemoth of nuclear prowess. "Show them what fallout is really like.....for your new boss Psimon."
"Gladly....," Neutron hissed.
Jinx's cat eyes exploded. It practically scared me how quickly those pink peepers dilated. "Ps-Psimon?!?!"
Shimmer smiled smugly.
Neutron raised his strong, metal arms.
Jinx's teeth practically bore cat fangs as she hissed with a glowing gaze: "Where is Psimon?!?! What does that son of a bitch want from me?!?!"
And Neutron's arms fell.
I braced myself—
WHAM!!!!!!!!!!!
The cliffside shook. It shook into our bridge. The bridge shook into itself. And--
CRUNCH!!!!!!!
"AAAAAH!!" Jinx fell first.
YANK!!!
"!!!!"
I plummeted second.
The two of us plunged deep down with a splash of shredded wood. The thunderous rapids and rough rocks of the stream fifty feet below welcomed us in a death-yawn. It was almost too dark to see our plummeting doom. Up above, Neutron hissed hot steam while the three villainous youngsters laughed their heads into the crisp emptiness of the young night.
The first two stars appeared on the far edge of the horizon.