149. Double Jinx part 6
That very same night...
SPLOOSH!!!
A green sailfish leapt up out of the Bay Waters, transformed into a wet cat in mid-air, and landed on all fours atop the dock jutting out of the Titans' island. After swiftly turning into a dog and shaking the moisture off its fur, Beast Boy transformed into elf form and sauntered over towards an amazingly dry Tempest. The Atlantean sat on the edge of the dock, his feet dangling above the lapping waters. His white on black eyes stared up at the black sphere surrounding the Earth.
"What's up?" Beast Boy chirped.
"...........the stars," Tempest uttered.
Beast Boy giggled. "Silly nooby. So literal."
"So sue me for being serious," Tempest said. He stared and stared and stared at the night's sky as he said: "The stars weren't always 'up' for me, ya know. The sky is....sometimes a difficult thing to explain to an Atlantean. But still....I've always known that there are many layers to the universe. It's just....mesmerizing to sit back and actually let your eyes melt into it all."
Beast Boy planted his hands on his hips. "Is that what you've been doing this whole time instead of bomb sniffing, dude?"
"Pfft....hardly," Tempest smirked at the changeling. "I just got back from my own bit of harrowing, endless searches." A suspicious glare. "What about yourself, man?"
"Phweeeeeeee....," Beast Boy exhaled. He spun and plopped himself noodily down besides Tempest on the dockside. "I've just gotten back from having gotten back from getting back to square one and back again."
Tempest blinked.
Beast Boy's eyes were thin as he looked at the Atlantean and clarified: "Yeah....I checked the sewers too."
"Ahhhh...."
"And believe you me....there's plenty of stuff to sniff there...but no bombs, dude," the changeling muttered.
"I think I remember something about 'being a hero' when I joined this team," Tempest cynically smirked, his dark eyes trailing. "But somehow 'being a self-inflicted labyrinth' wasn't part of the job application."
"Yeah, I know....right?" Beast Boy sighed. "This sort of stuff happens once in a blue moon."
"Eh?"
"Bomb searching," the elf shrugged. "We've done it a few billion times with Slade."
"Ah...Slade...," Tempest nodded. A beat. "This 'Jinx' once worked for Slade, right?"
"Right. But they're not the same, dude."
"Why do you say that?" the Atlantean asked, his eyebrows raised. "She's certainly giving you and me an explosive runaround like the deceased despot, right??"
"Yeah....but.........rrrgh...," Beast Boy clutched his head and shook his upper body.
Tempest blinked. "Hey....you okay?"
"Yeah. Super," Beast Boy sighed. He stared out into the waters. "Over the last few months, man....ever since Slade died.....I....I-I tried a few times to reach out to Jinx."
"Did you?"
"Mmmhmm," he nodded. "I wanted.....I-I wanted to see if maybe....I dunno......if maybe she was different after Slade was gone than she was before."
"That's quite a lot of compassion."
"Is it???" Beast Boy looked at Tempest as if he had the answer. "Dude....Jinx worked for Slade because he and Dagger somehow made her think that she had two sisters who don't really exist! They toyed with her emotions! They made her into the villain that beat Wyldecarde up and nearly threw us Titans into a deathtrap!"
"She was a villain before, though, r-right?"
"Yeah yeah...," Beast Boy muttered. "H.I.V.E. Fearsome Five. Strawberry Shortcake Mafia. Whatever....," the elf sighed again. "But....not everyone is born evil, Tempest. Ya know? S-Some people are just.....just misunderstood. And because of that, th-they can't get a right foothold in the world and they resort to bad things. Not that it's good, of course. But....it sure isn't simple. Good and evil.....it's a very complex thing to try and shape and explain. Heh. Ask Robin. He'd tell you that. I bet Noir could too."
"................," Tempest blinked. "Terra......"
Beast Boy shuddered. He barely looked at Tempest.
"This is all because of Terra, isn't it?" Tempest asked. "You and the Titans never got to reach out to her until it was too late. Her villainy had run full circle with her virtue....and she became stone." A beat. "Jinx is still alive. And now that she's free from prison and with Noir in custody.....you think there's still a hope or ounce of redemption in her."
Beast Boy ran a hand through his hair. "I......I know I t-take responsibility for what happened to Terra. I blame m-myself for what I did to her. Wh-What the Titans did to h-her. But at the time that she was a villain....at the time she did what she did.....I even told her....I-I even told her that she always had a choice. And I told her that she betrayed us not because of Slade....but because she wanted to. And even she would have believed that."
"And now?"
"..........," Beast Boy leaned back on his hands. "And n-now.........I....I guess I really don't care. I just want Terra back. No matter what she's done.....no m-matter what she's gone through........I just want her back, Garth. I want her back and in one p-piece. I guess I-I don't even care if she's truly evil or not."
"Then why do you seem to care with Jinx?" Tempest asked. He smiled. "Because it's not so much a matter of love?"
Beast Boy blushed a bit at that, but tried not to show it. "I think....Jinx a-at least deserves to live long enough to find out that people can care about her. People....wh-who aren't manipulative villains."
Tempest nodded. "Well....let's just hope Noir doesn't kick her teeth in before Jinx lives longer. Fate would have it that she's attached to the hip with her 'nemesis' from what I hear, right?"
"Yeah, dude....heheheheh......," Beast Boy sweatdropped. "What a screw universe we live in."
"Snkkkt......B.B. Come in."
Beast Boy jumped. "Yeep!! Er....ahem....," he whipped out the communicator from a back pocket with a Star Trek sound. "I read you, Cyborg. This is Beast Boy."
"And the fish," added Tempest.
"I've just finished what has to be my sixth round of cruising the Downtown area and performing every possible emission scan known to man. The only way I can possibly comprehend Jinx hiding a bomb this well under our detection would be if she were to somehow fuse the explosive between quantum realities or something......and I sincerely doubt her hex power is capable of even doing that."
"Whew......lay off the Stephen Hawkings dude, it's a bad year," Beast Boy said. "You coming home or what?"
"Yeah, I'm coming home. I just radioed Star and told her to return to the Tower too. Game over and stuff."
"What're we going to tell Robin?"
"That if he lays a finger on Raven, I'll be making a shoelace out of his esophagus. Other than that...I'll just report 'inconclusive' on the bomb search."
Tempest leaned in with a smirk, "Thatta boy, Cyborg. Think you'll get a check-plus for effort?"
"Hey Flipper."
"Yes?"
"Get a haircut."
"Love you too, Cyborg."
"I'm so over and out."
-blip-
Beast Boy pocketed the communicator away. "You know, I just thought of something?"
"Oh? What's that?"
A beat.
Beast Boy shook his head: "Never mind. I was just fooling." He stood up and limped towards the Tower. "I'm off to molest the shower faucet and die under the covers....not necessarily in that order."
"Thanks...," Tempest nodded and gazed upwards. "The stars and I need some privacy."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I tapped Jinx's shoulder.
She batted my hand away and hissed: "Shhh! Don't bother me!"
"............"
I tapped her shoulder again.
She gritted her teeth. "Not now....."
I sighed.
The two of us were perched atop an elevated edge of the forest overlooking a two lane state road that next morning. From the hedges and tree trunks we saw a truck or van or camper zoom by, heading past a green sign reading: 'Now Entering Blue Pine. Pop. 64'
"Okay....so we wait for the traffic to back up...or for a car to break down. The latter would be reallllly nice. Then you use your cloak thingy to make us both invisible as we waltz across the road, hijack the car, and keep the driver hostage till we pull over into a grove and steal his clothes and wheels and drive into Blue Pine disguised so that we can meet up with the contact "J" has provided." She took a deep, hysterical breath. "You got all that?"
I lifted my finger to sign--
"Good," she spat. Her pink cat eyes narrowed cutely in the early morning sun. Her tiny strands of pink hair fluttered. "Somebody.....," she hissed with stressed menace. "Breakkkkkk downnnnn........"
Silence.
Cars streamed by.
She sighed.
"........."
I tapped her shoulder again.
She spun around. "WHAT?!?!"
With our combined hands I pointed a metal finger towards a broken down, rusted truck in the green brush behind us. The side door hung open and inside were old jackets, jeans, and other apparel that looked like they had been through a few Vietnam Vet donations.
".............," Jinx blinked. "Heh....Fate throws a curve ball."
I simpered.
Jinx trotted us both off. "Good thing I found it," she smirked.
I frowned and was about to protest--
Yank!
I was pulled along with her. While strolling forcibly forward, I glanced back at a lone tree trunk besides the edge of the road.
A few scratches had been professionally etched by yours truly.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
POW! CLANK!!!
Robin fastened the grappling hook into the rock face. He got a good hold of the cord and gently, expertly lowered himself down the Cliffside with kicking feet. To his left was the thundering cascade of the river's waterfall. After waking up, he and his Titan partner figured that it would be best to assume the worst....the worst being that Jinx and their kidnapped ally had made a terrible plummet down into the pool below after their conflict with the ambush.
Raven floated effortlessly down alongside Robin the whole time.
"You know....I could just carry you down with telekinesis," she droned.
Robin smirked. "I'm getting my exercise." He grunted and kicked down alongside the waterfall some more by the cord. "Besides....you've done enough for me as it is."
She blinked.
A beat.
"Is that your usual excuse with Starfire?"
Robin did a double-take amidst his descent. "H-Huh??"
"Assuming that she 'does enough for you'?"
"Uhm....."
"Robin, you are leading this chase far better than I could ever do it on my own," Raven said. "If I were to assist in meager transportation, all that is is teamwork. Stop attempting to be so macho and nearly kill yourself with strenuous activity."
"I'm not trying to be macho!" Robin exclaimed. "Like I said, I need the morning exercise!"
"........"
"I....I-I do.....," the Boy Wonder pouted.
Raven rolled her eyes. "Starfire must give you lots of exercise."
Robin frowned at her.
PLOP! His feet landed on the riverside below.
"Oh....well....th-that didn't take too long," he simpered.
"No....it didn't...," Raven floated off.
"......." Robin loosened his grappling hook, coiled the cord, and caught up with Raven as they scanned the side of the river.
"It would help to know what we need help in knowing what we're looking for," Raven droned.
"Anything has got to turn up more promising down here than it will up there by the ambush site," Robin said.
"What gives you that idea?"
Robin smirked. He pointed ahead of them: "Because there we are."
"......," Raven looked ahead.
Two familiar pairs of footsteps emerged in the sand and dirt to the left of the churning waters and into the forest.
"......," Raven blinked. ".......," she looked at Robin. "How do you do that?"
He was too busy rushing over and squatting by the stream. "The pressure is equal in each footprint. Doesn't look like they injured any of their legs."
"At least we know half of them are all right," Raven floated over. She looked up. "Great...another forest to frolic through."
"They're the ones frolicking," Robin stood up. "We on the other hand....we have clues. Or at least we did."
"I get the picture," Raven nodded. She floated in between the trees. "Look for the scratches..."
She and Robin spread out amongst the tree branches and tree trunks, looking for a sign of their friend's chiseling handiwork.
Robin ducked under a branch or two. He could still spot scant footprints in the soil beneath him, and he used them to guide himself forward. The morning light filtered down unevenly but refreshed the Boy Wonder regardless. He took a deep breath of autumn, relaxed, and went about his task.
For a split second, he had no worry. So far, the day had survived a waterfall.
Or the previous night had 'survived' it.
"There!" Robin hissed to himself. He ran over to a thick branch stretching out into a tiny clearing. He saw distinct scratches labeling legibly: '42 W'
"Wow...," he murmured. "Even further west." His eyes blinked invisibly under his mask. "If I didn't know any better....I'd say they were headed straight for B—"
"Robin??" Raven's voice inquired.
The Boy Wonder spun around. As Raven floated into the clearing, his eyemask twisted strangely.
The dark girl held a discarded training bra in her fingers. She hovered to a stop before the Boy Wonder, displaying it.
".............."
".............it's a brassier."
"I-I can see that," Robin bit his lip. "But....um......what's it doing out here?"
Raven glanced at it. She glanced at Robin. "It's Jinx's."
He leaned his head to the side. "Jinx's bra?"
"Yes."
"How.....How would you know?"
Raven exhaled. "I'm pretty sure."
"But—"
"I'm pretty sure."
"Yeah, okay...whatever," Robin shrugged and pointed towards the branch behind him. "I found Noir's latest marker by the way. So the two were here."
Raven glanced behind her shoulder. She glanced back at Robin. "You think?"
"Come on, let's go...," Robin headed off.
"Westward?"
"Westward."
"Allright, then...," Raven floated after him.
The two traveled on through the forest.
"........."
"........."
"........."
".........why does a girl like her even wear one--?!?!"
"Just lead the way!!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"No peaking!"
I groaned inwardly.
I'm not peaking......
My left arm stretched into the dilapidated yet somewhat roomy interior of the pickup truck. Inside, the villainess attached to me was in the process of replacing bits and pieces of her attire. I half-stood impatiently outside the doorframe of the vehicle and looked off into space....vehemently.
"Seriously! You'd better not be looking!"
I gritted my teeth.
I...am......not LOOKING!
Sighing, my eyes fell to the length of the van's aluminum body. I spotted the dark rust of the material. Surely if I simply scratch my metal fingers against it, I could produce another follow-up clue.
Gotta make myself a reminder to do that......
"Okay....," Jinx stumbled out, hopping on one foot. "A little bit of goofiness....but I think I can afford it."
I looked at her. I did a double-take.
The jeans she had on were laughably big on her. I'm not even sure they were crafted for the feminine frame....much less the toothpick that was Jinx. She had found what appeared to be a rope or bungie cord inside the truck and had tied it around her waist within the pants like a belt. The lower apparel could have come across as simply.....a 'baggy' look providing she complement the piece with a sufficient top. But at the present moment, that was giving her some difficulty.
"Nnnngh....," Jinx struggled to fit on a red, moth-eaten turtleneck. She had her short pink head through the top neck hole, her left arm through the left sleeve, but predictably.....her right arm would not perform up to par. And she struggled and griped in an obscenely cute fashion. "Darn it....freakin' solid state of matter...I swear..."
I bit my lip.
I will not smile.
I will not smile.
I will not......
"A little help here?" she groaned.
"????"
"Like....maybe cut the sleeve open with your sword so that I can slip my hand in or something?" she said. A groan. "Why do the simplest problems make the biggest waves?"
"......."
"Don't look at me that way!" she frowned. "Either I get a fashion statement or someone gets an early grave!" She rattled the handcuffs.
Yeah yeah......
I held a finger up.
She looked at me.
I gripped her right arm with my free right hand.
FWOOOSH!!!
Murk coursed down my arm, wrapped around her right limb, and--
THWUMP!!!
I converted her upper arm into steam along with my grip just long enough to swiftly morph the sleeve around her appendage and rematerialize everything before the handcuffs' sensor could go haywire.
Job finished.
But Jinx flinched....big time.
"EyaaaAAAIEE!!!"
I rocked with her due to the handcuffs.
She settled down into a shivering. "Warn me next time before you do that!!!" she shrieked.
I shrugged my arms.
Make up your damn mind!!!
She clutched her pink head with her left hand and groaned. "Never mind." She then stood and posed before the hazy side mirror of the truck. "Hmm....kind of an.....Ellie Mae Christmas look, but it works."
"....."
"Your turn," she smiled.
I leaned my head to the side.
I'm not becoming an Ellie Ma--
"Ta-daa!!" she brandished a denim jacket from the car.
"......," I smirked.
I can do that.
She tossed it to me.
I grabbed it in my right hand.
"Sorry I couldn't find any jeans in there. I mean....you are tall and stuff, but I hope the jacket helps. I don't want anyone recognizing us...so take your time and make sure the jacket fi—"
FWOOOSH!!!
I murked the jacket through my limbs and straightened it out. It fit perfectly. The upper half of my combat fatigues were well hidden.....but still looked bulky underneath.
A beat.
I cleared my throat.
I concentrated.
FWOOOOSH!!!
Like a guillotine chopping off a head, my torso murked in and out of smoke form, expelling the top jacket of my combat fatigues. I grabbed the article and tossed it into the truck's interior, adjusting the denim jacket with my arms and shifting the black tank top underneath.
A beat.
I glanced at Jinx.
"........"
I waved my arm.
"Hmmm....what?"
I bit my lip and sweatdropped. I pointed towards the approximate location of Blue Pine beyond the.....er....pine.
"Oh. Right. B-By all means....hehehe...."
I raised an eyebrow.
Pick a side, girl.
"Oh! One more thing!" and she went to check inside the truck again, all about diving.
My left arm jerked towards the vehicle. I took that moment in time to my advantage, scratching the few designs I needed to in the rust with my metal fingers.
"Here!!" Jinx jumped back out giddily.
I hid our arms down below her vision and smiled innocently....that is until I saw what was in her grasp.
A ridiculously large trucker's cap.
"........"
"See? It'll hide your big, long, black hair!!"
".......," I blinked.
And......what about your short pink head?
A beat.
She frowned.
"Wear it," she spat.
I sighed.
I grabbed it and—PLOP!!
"There you go!" Jinx beamed. "That wasn't so bad, was it??"
"......," I looked like an illegitimate crossbreed of Charles Manson and the Home Depot guy....or so I imagined.
"Now hide your hair like a good boy!! You see, since it's a trucker's cap, it should be big enough to acco—"
I slipped my black hair back like a ponytail and stucked it down the back of my jacket.
"—no, I said the cap. The cap."
"..........," I stared at her.
She sighed. "Ah what the Hell. Let's go." She grumbled as she led the way. "Hope the contact gets here soon."
Yank!!
I followed her along limply.
I can't wait.
I glanced at the sensor on the handcuffs.....then gazed lingeringly at the truck behind us as we slowly walked away.
I sighed.
Can my friends??
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"What do you mean you're lost??" Cyborg blinked. "Just what exactly have you two been doing all this time on the road??"
"We're tracking......Noir and Jinx......still!!" Robin's voice huffed and puffed over the intercom of the Main Computer's communication system. "We've not......lost their trail! Only because......we've been......focusing on the clues......being left for us......and not......the region we're in!"
"What kind of clues?"
The speakers crackled: "Just tell us what the GPS results say, already!!"
"All right, all right! Calm down, Robin," Cyborg said.
"......that was me, Raven."
Cyborg's human eye dilated. A flushed expression washed over his face. "Uhm.....uhhh.....," he glanced to his side.
Tempest smirked from the edge of the Main Room.
Cyborg cleared his throat and simpered into the intercom: "W-Well of course it was you. Eheheheh.....heh. Uhm....I-I've got the results right here. You're all the way out in.....in Glade County. Damn...how'd you get so far?"
"Never mind that. Tell me...is there any special city, territory, building, or anything located in a direction that would take us approximately forty-two degrees west from directly north?"
"Hold on, let me consult the motherboard," Cyborg muttered.
"Thattaboy. Consult that motherboard's brains out."
"Shut up, Flipper."
Tempest chuckled.
Titanium fingers typed in a flurry. Then....
"Closest thing I can find, dawg, is a tiny town called Blue Pine."
"Blue Pine?"
"That's right. Barely a dot on a road map, if you ask me. Population less than one hundred. It's more of a truck stop than anything."
"What could Jinx want to do with Noir in some mountain village??"
Cyborg glanced at Tempest.
Tempest scratched his head.
Cyborg faced the computer again. He shrugged. "Motel 6??"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
It was a road. 'Main Street.' They could have called the strip of asphalt 'Blue Pine' Circle and left it at that. A general store, a tiny post office, a diner, and a gas station were the only things to catch my eye. There were a few two story buildings of weathered-brown build, but I could only guess what their purposes were. I assumed that was where the people of the town actually lived. I didn't see any semblance of a dirt road or path leading off towards undiscovered zones for residences among the slopes and forests of the mountain side. Besides, such wouldn't make sense.
It was a very....quaint place. And I with my love for urban landscapes in general truly found it pleasing. Or at least, I was inclined to find it pleasing. I'm usually not very cheery when hooked up to a girl and a bomb.
Usually......
"Great....just as I imagined it....," Jinx muttered. She glanced around with wide pink eyes of....of.....satisfaction? "We're sure to find him once he appears."
".....," I looked at her.
"The special friend "J" is sending," she winked.
"......."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah....well....trust me. When he appears....you'll know."
Whatever.
I shrugged.
I glanced back down the 'Main Street'.
We stood on the side of the road where an old, weathered sidewalk haphazardly struggled its way to border the thin, two lane road in front of the buildings' faces. Autumn leaves from the higher mountain slopes above us had scattered down and were randomly blowing across the morning-lit scenery in amber streaks. Every minute, two or three trucks on a semi-busy route would drive on through. Old folks gathered by the front of the general store, leisurely chatting as if it was a century-old routine.
It reminded me ever so slightly of the town of Barrymore before Robin and I had to come in blazing to stop the rampage of Johnny Rancid.
I sighed.
Different town. Different villain.
The diner across the way was surprisingly busy, with two semi trucks parked outside and a few smaller motorists eating within. I realized to my inevitable frustration that—yes—I was hungry. And—yes—my stomach was growling.
I wasn't alone, apparently.
"Nnnngh....," Jinx slumped. "Damn that diner."
Tell me about it......er......I-I mean 'shut up'!
Jinx rubbed her tummy with her left hand and exhaled. "Well...Pulsade did say the rendezvous would take place at noon." She glanced at the diner again. "That's about two hours from now."
"......," I cleared my throat.
Jinx glanced at me.
I gestured to my denim jacket's pockets and showed how empty they were.
Her pink optics blinked. "Oh. Right. Money. Forgot that existed."
I groaned and shook my head.
Criminals......
"Hmmmmmmm," her cat eyes narrowed as she rubbed her chin with a tiny finger. "The last time I ever actually bought a meal was when I went to MacDonald's with my Mom and si—er.....with just my Mom. And the cost of the meal....added to the rapid inflation during the time I was either with the Fearsome Five, in H.I.V.E. Academy, or in prison.............ngh....." She smiled. She glanced at me. "Is thirty-five bucks too much for a cheeseburger now??"
I sweatdropped.
"Now.....who to rob....," she glanced around.
I bit my lip.
"Oh don't be such a sissy," she stuck her tongue out. "I can reciprocate for the two of us!"
I glanced at the sensor on the handcuffs.
Reciprocate.........heh.........
"THERE!!" Jinx stretched a pink-glowing hand.....at a toll booth four feet away.
FLASH!!!!
Shatter!!!
Dozens of quarters fell out onto the floor in a silvery splash.
Cl-Cl-Cl-Cl-Clink!!
I winced. I looked both ways.
Nobody saw us.
"Dum de dum...," Jinx hummed as she knelt down and gathered the coins. "Help me, Mr. Sunshine!"
I groaned inwardly....knelt down....and helped gather the quarters. There had to have been....jeez.....eleven dollars??
"Okay....step two over with," Jinx stood us up and smiled. "Cuz step one was getting dressed for the occasion! And we did that, right??"
"......"
"Hehehe...this is SO working. Ahem. Now we'll just.....ya know.....make sure your sword scabbard is hidden underneath your denim jacket. And....um....I'll do the talking."
"......"
"You're right, the handcuffs!" she squealed.
I blinked.
"Awwww....jeez....," she pouted. "That's a dead giveaway. I mean...it's enough that we're dressed as we are and look so different—what with my short hair and your cap and all. But if anyone in this area sees the handcuffs, it'll be the end of this trip." A beat. She grumbled. "Darn it!! Why can't I think?? It should be simple, right?? I mean....there's got to be a reason that we can pretend our hands are so close together for!!"
Silence.
Jinx's eyes lit up...glistening obscenely. She looked up at me with a Cheshire Cat grin.
".....," I stared down at her.
No......
She giggled.
God no......
"Let's eat, shall we??"
God, I hate you SO MUCH!!!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"...and so he says to the Pope, 'I didn't know it was that time of month'!!!"
A waitress and two other truckers bent over laughing after the patron finished.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!!"
"Hehehehehe!!"
"Ohhhh man....hehehehe!!"
A hanging bell rang.
Still chuckling, half of those eating in the diner glanced over.
"Mornin'! Welcome to Cheryl's Diner," the waitress said. A beat. She blinked. She stared.
The truckers stared.
A few breakfasting people at the booths glanced up.
Two figures sauntered slowly into the depths of the diner. A boy and a girl. Their long-sleeved hands intertwined.
"Awwww...," the waitress cooed. Chewing gum, she waltzed up with two menus and smiled at the two of us. "And what brings you two sweethearts into our town?"
"Heeeeee!" Jinx cutely clutched tighter to my left hand and leaned into me. "My sweety-pumpkins and I here are headed to our school's leadership retreat in Toronto! But boyyyy are our bellies empty! It'd sure please us to get a bite to eat before we're on the road again all by our lonsssssome!"
"........," I looked like I was being fed blood plasma full of piranhas into my neck arteries.
"Well, that sounds like an adventure!! Let's get y'all situated and you'll be on your way!!" the waitress guided us towards a booth. She placed the menus down in front of the window and stood back with her hands folded. "My name's April and I'll be getting you your breakfast essentials while you decide on a main course, that sound good?"
"It sounds good to me....hehehehe...," Jinx fluttered her eyes up to me. "How about you, cuddly-lumpkin??"
I stared down at her.
Bite me.
"Awwww....you two look precious together."
I glanced at the waitress.
You too.
"Well go on and sit down and make yourself at home! It's a long way to Toronto from here!!"
"Weeeee understaaaaaaand," Jinx grinned wide.
I smiled like an upside down torture victim.
The waitress shuffled off. "Hey Lenny!! Two glasses of OJ and a plate of biscuits! Butter on the side! Ya know, the usual!!" A beat. In the distance: "Hehehe....it's so nice seeing young couples nowadays. What a secure future we've got!"
Fossil fuels are running dry. Sperm are dying.
I groaned inwardly.
YANK!!
I winced and flew into the booth on the outer side of the seat as Jinx plopped down against the window.
"Whew....didn't think it'd work for a second there," she simpered.
I glared at her.
"Dammit! You can play along better, ya know!" she hissed. "If we want to get out of here in one piece, you've got to play your part too!!"
I ran a hand over my face and shades. I felt Myrkblade resting between my jacket and my back against the seat.
I felt it......
"I guess I shouldn't be pushing too hard, 'boyfriend'," she stuck her tongue out and shuffled the menu open in front of her. "It's easier playing the part for me."
"????" I looked at her.
"Well, face it," Jinx droned as her pink eyes scanned up and down the menu. "You are handsome. What girl wouldn't want you as a cuddly-lumpkin from time to time?"
I raised an eyebrow. I gestured the letter 'L' in front of her.
Jinx glanced at me, blinking. "Leslie??" she uttered. A smile flashed honestly across her face. "Well of course my heart and soul belongs to her! No one else!"
I bit my lip.
"Pfft! Don't flatter yourself, Ghost Boy," she muttered. "I just said you were 'handsome'. That's all." She looked back down at the menu. "The way I see it....life is like a huge, circular road bordering nothing but car lots. Imagine driving your automobile around this sort of thing. All you see around you is nothing but new and used cars. All nice looking and pleasing to the eye. Just because you're already inside a car isn't gonna stop you from making appraisals on other wheels you see, now is it??"
I scratched my head.
Yeah......but I'm a better driver than you. That's proven.
And I couldn't help but snicker breathily.
Jinx eyed me suspiciously aside. "You're smiling? Something's wrong, isn't it?"
I sighed and shook my head. I tried prying my left hand free of her right--
"Uh uh!!" she squealed. "Not till we're properly filled and finished our meals! Then we can skedaddle out of here and wait for "J"'s contact with full stomachs. That sound good?"
Heavenly......
"When you eat....just.....I dunno....eat with one hand," Jinx said. "You're a swordsman. You should be good at doing things one handed."
I could always try strangling a pink haired girl with only five fingers--
"Ooooh! Biscuits! Nummy Nummmmmy!!!"
"????" I blinked.
YANK!!
Jinx's right hand flew up with mine as we took a saucer of biscuits from the returning waistress' grip and lowered the item to the tabletop.
"Thanks a plenty!! Hehehehe!" Jinx fluttered her eyelids. "We are sooooo lucky to have dropped in on this place!"
".....," I icily turned my head to look up at the waitress with the world's fakest smile.
She horrendously bought it: "Hehehe. You sure seemed geared up for this leadership retreat!" the waitress said.
"Oh yessss!" Jinx gasped happily. "We're gonna learn about corporate idealism and stuff!"
"Well, I wish you two the best of luck! Maybe you'll learn some other things along the way," the waitress winked.
I exhaled through my nose.
Don't go there, Mrs. Nympho.
"And what would the young man like?" she asked me directly.
I bit my lip nervously.
Jinx cleared her throat. "Oh....um....we alwaaaaays share our meals! It's both economical....AND intimate!!"
"Hehehe...if you say so. What meal can I bring you two?"
I lifted a finge--
"Why, the pancakes and sausage Supreme Meal, of course!!"
"Excellent choice!"
I lowered my right hand, sighing.
Pancakes......
"......"
Pancakes make my stomach commit suicide.
"And to drink?? Or is your orange juice allright?"
Go to Hell.
"Oh, quite alright! Vitamin G does the body good!"
I cleared my throat.
"C! Vitamin C!" Jinx sweatdropped.
"Well, I'll be back with your meal sooner than you can say 'Cleveland'!" the waitress beamed as she scribbled on her notepad.
Cleveland......
"Oh...do take your time," Jinx smiled and waved her left hand in an insultingly feminine fashion. "Every minute togetherrrr is precioussss. Right, wuvy-poo??"
I looked at her.
What if I bite her nose off with murking teeth? Just to see if the Universe explodes or something?
"Oh my goodness!" the waitress suddenly gasped, a hand to her chest. "What happened to your hand, sir??"
"?????" I glanced at where Jinx's left hand and my right hand rested, joined together. There was....nothing of the handcuffs showing beyond our sleeves. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing that I could imagine betraying the flight of the villain and I.
"Er...," Jinx sweatdropped but smiled, "His hand....uhm.....it w-was caught in a terrible fire years ago."
I glanced at my hand again. The dark metal titanium.
Oh right. Metal prosthetic. Heheheheh.
Funny how much I've gotten used to that............
"Oh, that's terrible!" the waitress looked sympathetically at me through my shades. "If I may say so, you've recovered nicely, sir."
"..........."
"..........s-sir?"
"..........."
"Erhm....," Jinx interjected again. "It's because of the same fire that....he....erhm.....th-that is, my wuvy-poo can't exactly TALK."
I was beginning to wonder what degree in education that waitress had. It took her a full twenty seconds to notice the 'X' shaped scar on my neck.
"OH! M-My mistake, sir. I was not aware."
I simpered.
Jinx hugged my left arm. "Oh but I luvvvvvv my huggy-bear!! He may not speak out loud, but he knows the language of a girl's hearrrrt!!"
Both women giggled.
I felt flooded in a cloud of social estrogen.
I wanted to die.
"Well...you know what me and my girlfriends always say," the waitress smiled. "The world's full of yappers, but every woman's entitled to one cunning linguist! Hehehehehehehe!!"
".....," Jinx blinked. She then exploded in giggles. "Hehehehehehehe!!!"
"Hahahahahahaha!!"
"He he he he heeee!!"
I snickered breathily between them.
CHIIIIIIIIING!!!!
The two women jumped as I slid a butter knife off the tabletop and coldly, silently began to slice some biscuits open for myself.
"......," the waitress gulped. "Well...," she simpered. "I'll be off getting Lenny to work on your pancakes, shall I?"
"Yes.....merrily....," Jinx murmured.
And the two of us were alone again.
"Whew......," Jinx exhaled. "I can't believe I forgot about your stinkin' arm!!"
"......," I buttered my bread.
She shoved me and hissed: "Darn it!! Why'd you have to be so....so....goody goody back when Slade was alive?!?! Hell...you could have at least let Beast Boy and that redheaded alien chick die on the frigate and lost a foot inste"—THUNK—"mmmmfff!!"
I shoved a biscuit into her mouth.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Um....," Raven stood besides the rusted pickup truck and held the discarded, gothic blouse and pants of Jinx's. "........either she's become a nudist.....or they've found replacement clothes."
"I'm tempted to believe the latter," uttered Robin, kneeling and examining the scratches in the rusted body of the truck. "It'd make sense if they discarded some of their older garb for 'new skin' as it were. Especially if they were heading into town."
Raven picked up a familiar top-jacket of combat fatigues. "So, you mean to say...."
Robin stood up straight. "The latest bearing etched by Noir sends us directly into Blue Pine." He pointed a green glove. "Just beyond those trees."
Raven floated over. "Don't you think that's.....I dunno.....leaving too many clues for us?"
"You think this is some sort of a trap?" Robin asked.
"Would you sue me if I thought that?"
He shook his head. "No. But at this point, I'm out of options." A beat. "We're out of options."
"Naturally....," Raven folded her arms.
"I think we should go and scout the town out," Robin said, already trotting off.
Raven floated after him. "And if they're not in the area?"
The Boy Wonder took a deep breath. "Then we may finally be at the end of this crazy string of pursuit."
"........"
"Let's hurry."
"Yes....let's."
The two Titans rushed up through the forest.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Mmmmm.....mmmmm.....," Jinx hideously hummed with each sensuous bite of her.....pancakes. Syrupy pancakes. Rivers of syrup and pads of batter......
I shuddered to look at it.
My black eyes thinned under my shades as I glanced away.
"Mmmmmmmmmghost boy," she muffledly expressed through a sinfully full mouth. "Mmmmmyou've got to try this...." A swallow. "Personally I care for blueberries with it....but I suppose everything's a digestive orgasm after ages in prison." A bite. "Mmmm....mmmcome on, don't be some anorexic freak! Eat!!"
I groaned. I ran a hand over my face and leaned against the table.
I don't do pancakes.........I need to meditate.........I need to meditate......
The morning was eating at my temples, throbbing the whole way into my brain.
"I'm gonna be needing you to have energy for the rest of our trip! Now eat!!" Jinx hissed. I sensed the handcuffs rattling.
I glanced down.
Is she gonna blow people up just because I offend Aunt Jemima?
I reached a right hand out.
She watched.
I took another biscuit. I ate it slowly....miserably.
She sighed and stuffed her mouth again with another bite of pancakes. "Mmmm....so be it. Spoil sport. Mmmm.....wh-why're all heroes so ascetic anyways?? There're so many pleasures in life you could just be DIVING into and yet you hold back!! Me, I'm different. Not to say—mmmm—th-that all criminals are hedonistic, of course. But at least I have some sense when it comes to living. Oh yeah! Bad people know how to live! Ever thought of that for once?"
I munched on a biscuit, sighed, and swallowed.
I know I'm alive.........
She gulped down another mouthful with some orange juice, wiped her mouth with her left turtleneck sleeve, and exhaled. A smile later, she said: "You know what? I'm feeling good today!"
I smiled sarcastically.
No.........
"You and I....we're gonna make it, Ghost Boy. We're gonna get to H.I.V.E. and we're both gonna kick ass to get answers! At first, I thought it was impossible. But after the highway...and that stupid run-in with Psimon's club.....well....I know that I was right. So Pulsade can just go soak her fat head!!"
"????" I glanced at Jinx sideways.
The girl hugged my left arm.....genuinely this time. "Heeee! You WERE worth abducting!"
I wanted to groan.
"With the powers combined with the powers of....of.....uhm....whatever it is that you do," she simpered. "We're an unstoppable team! You should think of joining Pulsade, "J" and I!"
I glared at her.
"Of course...only girls get the bedroom. You and "J" could sleep out in the dog house. Hehehehe!"
I raised an eyebrow.
"J" is a guy, then?
A beat.
Or a dog. A dog at a computer.
"I bet you're wondering one thing, though....," Jinx remarked while picking through the leftovers of her pancakes. "You're wondering if I'll let you go after all is said and done and H.I.V.E. is thoroughly thrashed for what they have."
"........"
She smiled ever so slightly. "Well....who am I to refuse someone as helpful as you?" She took a bite, swallowed, sighed, and smiled again: "I'll deactivate the handcuffs and let you go your merry way, Ghost Boy."
I leaned my head to the side.
"Then and ONLY then!" she lifted a finger and frowned her cat-eyed brow in a hilarious attempt to look stern. "In the meantime, no funny stuff! Or kablammo...got it??"
".....," I glanced at the handcuffs.
Why do I get the sudden......crazy urge to test her?
But I didn't.
"I hope that....some way...some how.....after all of this chaos is said and done, Ghost Boy....," she said, digging through her syrupy slop. "....you'll look back and realize that I wasn't so bad a girl after all."
"......"
"Seriously, I'm not," she muttered. A bite. A swallow. A dazed gaze. "H.I.V.E......I'm pretty sure of it. They're responsible for the bombing on the prison," she said. A bit somberly. Her cat eyes blinked and she continued: "The only thing is....I don't know how they did it. I don't know what powers gave them the ability to dig into the prison and try and....take me and many other prisoners out. The bomb nearly took my life away....and only thanks to "J" and Pulsade did I get out."
I stared at her.
She took a breath and resumed food-picking. "But that's not why we're going into H.I.V.E.'s Academy," she said. "It's all about Red Aviary. EVERYTHING is about Red Aviary."
I felt a momentary chill. I shuddered.
"Maybe it's best you stay confused about it all," she muttered to me. "What you know can't hurt you, right?"
"......"
She sighed. "No.....not right." A beat. "But who am I to care about what's right or not? Huh?"
Silence.
She glanced at me slightly.
I blinked beneath my shades.
Was I supposed to answer her on that??
"Red Aviary.......s-scares me, Ghost Boy," Jinx said. "And.....and I-I don't know why. But it does. And I'm not alone. "J" has come out of the woodwork—as it were—to help me. And Pulsade.....Hecate, I've never seen her so adamant to do something at least quasi-virtuous before."
"......"
"And me......well......m-maybe I'm saving the world for once," she simpered slightly. "Which is wyrd, cuz.....I-I've always thought the world was something being spiraled down the eternal shower drain of fate. None of my concern, ya know? Even though I was a witch of fate to begin with."
"......."
"You don't talk much, do you?"
I stuck my tongue out.
"Hehehehe," she looked out the window. A beat. She sighed. "Maybe....M-Maybe once this whole thing with H.I.V.E. is over....and Red Aviary is at least understood.....I can finally.....I dunno.....rest. Maybe Pulsade will stop wanting to travel around so much. Or if not.....maybe I'll just find some place to....disappear. Or something. Then the world wouldn't have to worry about hating me anymore. I wouldn't be Jinx....or the Third Apprentice.........'J.J.'......."
Silence.
Jinx's cat eyes lowered as she stared off into oblivion in the darkness of her lids. "To be honest.....I wouldn't even mind if....I dunno.....if the sky fell at the end of this trip. If Red Aviary turns out to be the final curtains. My own destruction. Whatever. I....I just want to stop feeling guilty....f-for everything."
A beat.
"That's all I want....," Jinx opened her eyes thinly and sighed. "To be free.....from what I am....."
Silence.
Jinx's head turned. Her eyes exploded and she gripped my arm with a girlish gasp: "Ohhhhh, the breakfast was mossssst scrumptioussssss!! Wasn't it, wuverly-pooooo?!?!"
"?!?!?!?!?!" I about shook off the booth's seat. I glanced to my right side.
The waitress came up with the bill. She smiled proudly down at us. "Will that be all for today?"
Jinx beamed a Cheshire cat grin as she openly held our hands together and leaned on my frame. "Oh yessssss. We are most full!! Thank you most kindly! We won't ever forget this Town!"
"Well...hehehe....I'll be sure not to forget about you!" she placed the slip of paper down on the tabletop. "Fourteen fifty."
CLAMP!!!!!
Twenty stacks of quarters landed in view.
"Is that enough???" Jinx grinned.
"..........," the waitress sweatdropped. "My my....," she simpered. "S-Someone is....uhm....performing a genocide on piggy banks, no?"
"Hehehehehehe!!!"
I smiled nervously....and it actually looked genuine.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Well....," Robin muttered as he stared through tiny binoculars down at Cheryl's Diner from the rooftop of a two-story building across Main Street. "They're definitely in there."
"Mmmmhmmm....," Raven nodded. Her eyes glowed as she held two fingers to her temples and performed an empathic scan of the surroundings. "Jinx seems to be feeling content."
"And Noir?"
"You tell me how he looks....I can never seem to know how he feels," she droned.
Robin lowered his binoculars and adjusted his cape in the flapping wind. "He doesn't seem too hungry, that's for sure."
"Huh?"
Robin smirked at Raven. "They're having breakfast."
"......."
"Or at least Jinx's having breakfast."
"How'd they end up in a diner to begin with??" Raven asked with a twisted set of eyebrows.
"It beats me," Robin shrugged. "But there're only so many ways for them to come out."
"And the reason why we're not springing upon them right now is.......?"
Robin gestured. "'Kaboom'."
"You still think it's a bomb?"
"Of course I do!!" Robin cackled.
Raven blinked. "But Cyborg said when we called him—"
"I'm well aware of his report," Robin grunted. "But I'm still not taking any chances."
Raven folded her arms. "We should be changing your alias to 'Mr. Uncertainty."
Robin shrugged. "When you're dealing with a female villain who can alter the whim of fate....what is there not to be cautious about?"
"..........."
Robin exhaled. "And as it seems....Noir has been in the hands of fate for nearly twenty-four hours. Just....not the hands of fate that we would want."
"So what are we going to do? You're the leader."
Robin's eyemask narrowed. He traced something in the distance. "We see what becomes of this...."
"Becomes of what?"
Robin placed a hand on Raven's shoulder and pointed with his other hand. "Watch and learn...."
Raven's blue eyes followed a state trooper car pulling up and into the diner's parking lot.
"Hmmmmmm......should I prepare the body bags?"
Robin pinched her.
"...........ow."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Okay....now that that's over with....," Jinx stood up in her seat and prepared to shuffle us out into the center aisle of the diner's interior. "...let's skedaddle," she whispered. "We should still have plenty of time before 'J''s contact arrives and—"
The hanging bell above the door jingled.
We both looked from the booth.
My eyes exploded under my shades.
Jinx cackled. "Hecate almighty!!"
THWUMP!!
She shoved me back down into our seats. Panting.
Two state troopers were waltzing up the center aisle in the thin diner. They saluted a few regulars that they seemed to know and headed towards the counter stools facing the kitchen. They were coming closer....closer....closer....
"Oh jeez....oh jeez....," Jinx trembled all over. She looked at her cat-eyed reflection upside down in the back of a spoon. "Oh jeez...." She ran a hand over her short pink hair. "Oh jeez!!" Her lips quivered as she looked at me. "Troopers! All of them have got to be briefed on what the two of us look like! We're so screwed!"
I didn't know whether to smile or gnash my teeth.
The troopers came closer.
Closer.
A beat.
She gasped. "Oh! I know!!" She grabbed my right hand.
Footsteps.
Two uniformed bodies behind us.
She looked at the span of my palm-to-my-fingers. "Hmm....seems big enough." She planted it in the back of her head, cupping her fuzzy skull.
"????" I made a face.
What in the blue f—WHOAH!!!
Jinx's lips were being firmly planted against mine. At the same time, she forced my right hand to forcibly push her face up against mind as if in a passionate lock.
And as the cops shuffled up behind us....I realized that was exactly what Jinx wanted. A passionate lock. Or at least....something simulating it.
Simulating......yeah......
When the state troopers passed by, they saw two teenage sweethearts in the middle of a romantic embrace. Their faces melted together. The girl's eyes were shut ecstatically closed while the boy's hand gently caressed her short head of hair.
"Heh.....they keep getting younger...," one trooper mused.
The other saluted the waitress behind the counter. "The usual, April?"
"Of course! Fresh-brewed and steaming, as always!" she presented them with a cardboard carrier with two coffee drinks. "Keep protecting our roads, boys! Hehehe."
"By all means. What do we owe ya?"
"On the house today."
"No way....seriously, April?"
"I mean it," she smiled.
"Well, you have a wonderful day. You're an angel, ya know that?"
"Heh...on occasion."
"Have a good afternoon."
"You too!"
"Good afternoon...."
The cops shuffled back out of the diner.
The hanging bell rang.
And they were gone.
"!!!!" I rocketed my hand off of Jinx and released my lips, sputtering.
"Whew...that was so damn close....," Jinx exhaled. "I swear to Hecate...I thought they'd never leave!" She fanned herself.
I sputtered some more, making wretching faces.
Gawd in heaven!! I'm not gonna lose the taste of syrup in my mouth for a month!!!!...............a-and strawberries.
A beat.
I looked at Jinx.
She was still fanning herself.
I cleared my throat.
She stopped....blushing. "R-Right....uhm.....ahem...."
FWOOOSH!!!
Somehow, the two of us were on our feet and heading hurriedly towards the door.
"Come on, luvy-pooo!! We're so offff to Toronto!!" she hugged onto my arm and skipped us along.
I gritted my teeth.
Dear Diana. Kill me please. Sincerely, Noir.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Outside the diner, the two police officers reconnoitered at their parked squad car.
"So what was it that they mentioned at the briefing this morning?"
"Oh yeah....s-something about a pink witch and a dark-haired vigilante handcuffed to each other and rocketing to their death off a highway."
"Heh....they keep getting younger."
"..............didn't you just say that?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
As the two men walked over with their coffee, there was a uniformed stranger standing by their car with his back to them.
"Uhm, Mister? This is a police squad car you're loitering besides."
Silence.
The figure rocked back and forth as if to some invisible tune.
The first cop's brow furrowed as he walked up. "Excuse me....Mister??"
FWOOOSH!!!
The stranger spun, a leg thrust into the officer's stomach.
WHUMP!!!!
"Ooof!!" the cop dropped the coffee.
SPLASH!!!
It splashed across his ankles and boots with a steaming sensation.
"Augh!!!" The trooper hobbled.
THWACK!!!
The stranger uppercutted him mightily.
"You!!" the second cop reached for his gun. "Freeze---"
The stranger spun over, whipped out a taser in the blink of an eye, and plunged it hard into the cop's ribcage.
ZZZZZT!!!!
"Nnnnnnngh....," the second officer fell down silent. THWUMP!!
".......," Damien Darhk tossed the taser up and down in his hands a few times before finally dropping it. Whistling nonchalantly, he adjusted his 'trooper hat' and glanced down Main Street. A beat. He leaned against the car and performed a high-sign of sorts towards something in the distance.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Wuh oh....," Robin uttered as he peered through his binoculars.
Raven's eyes darted back and forth. "'Wuh oh' what?"
"Wuh oh that," Robin pointed.
The dark girl looked.
Four brand new 'state trooper' vehicles rolled into view from the far side of Main Street. They formed a semi-circle of vehicular meatshield around the extent of the diner.
"That's a lot of 'wuh oh'," Raven droned.
Robin rubbed his chin in thought.
"Are they real police?" Raven asked.
"No....they're not," Robin said.
"Then they could be in trouble!" Raven started to float to the rescue. "If you and I hurry, we can—"
Robin tugged her back down by her cloak. "Stay here, Raven."
"But—"
"But nothing," Robin's eyemask narrowed as he stared at the scene. "This is about to get hairy enough as it is with those two and the handcuffs. It's best that we not get involved."
"Aren't you....aren't you.....," Raven tried to speak--
"Worried?" Robin smirked.
".........," Raven blinked. "Got me there."
"Shhh...," Raven urged her to get down while he himself crouched. "Something tells me that Jinx has something up her sleeve regardless of what's happening now...."
"But just who are these people?"
"Maybe we'll be finding that out soon enough."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The bell rang.
Jinx backed herself and I out the diner's doors. She bowed happily, smiling like a cute anime kitten. "Thank youuuuuu everyone!!! My luvy-pooooo and I shall always hold you in our happyyyyyy hearts!!! Heeeeee he he he he!!"
We both spun around.
Cl-Click!
Click!
Cl-Cl-Click!!
"FREEZE!!'
".....," Jinx blinked. "Oh shit."
I sweatdropped.
Twelve fully-garbed state troopers stood, half-shielded behind the doors and bodies of immaculate squad cars in a thick line surrounding the front of the diner. They aimed pistols at us in perfect synchronization. Their dark eyes and dark hairs perfectly cut into threatening frowns. Their aim seemingly perfect as they trained their weapons threateningly upon our foreheads from far off.
Our handcuffed hands flew up.
"....."
"....."
A suspiciously young state trooper on the side spoke through a megaphone: "Jinx! Noir! You are both under arrest!!"
Jinx's cat eyes were wide.
My brow furrowed.
Both??
They all continued to aim at us. Patrons inside the diner gasped and ducked their heads in apprehension from the unshot bullets. The scant populace of Blue Pine peered nervously out of windows and storefronts all along Main Street. A trucker or two looked from behind a rig. Motorists stopped and backed up safely away from the standoff.
Jinx and I bit our lips.
"Turn around! Slowly!"
I glanced at Jinx...as if for directions.
"You heard the m-man....," she murmured. She slowly pivoted to her left.
I walked to compensate until I was facing the diner. I kept my hands up. Both flesh and metal. While turning, I glanced aside. I swore that I saw parts of two fallen state troopers besides one of the squad cars.
Okay......what the Hell??
Jinx and I were successfully 'turned around'.
"On your knees! Facing away from us! Now!!"
Jinx started lowering.
I followed suit....slowly.
Jinx murmured hushedly to me. "These.....th-these aren't real cops...."
I nodded breathily.
"That smartass with the megaphone.....I recognize him somehow....."
"......."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Anyone in your book?" Raven droned.
Robin shook his head. "Nope. But one thing's for sure....this was planned. Ahead of time."
"But by who?"
"It's all so well organized...," Robin uttered. "I suspect something corporate...yet criminal."
"........."
Robin's lips parted. "H.I.V.E......of course...."
Raven leaned her head to the side. "???"
Robin gestured: "This is their former student, after all."
"H.I.V.E. has a bone to pick with Jinx?"
"It would appear so."
Raven glanced down. "Maybe that's why she's on the run with Noir."
"Who's to know?" Robin muttered quietly as they watched the standoff. "Not to mention if they were the ones who ambushed the two at the waterfall...."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Jinx and I panted as we sat on our knees.
There was shuffling behind us.
A few of the armed men slowly approached our backs.
"Think they'll handcuff us?" Jinx snickered breathily.
I elbowed her.
"Ow!!"
"Stay still!! Heads down!"
There was something moving in the reflection of a diner window. Something large, dark, and menacing. It grew at an astonishing rate. There was a low vibration matching its movement through the ground. I gazed at the reflection curiously.
"Ah....," Jinx smiled. "So he's a bit early...."
"?????" I glanced at her.
She smirked at me. "'J''s accomplice, of course...."
"I said, head's down!!"
My black eyes narrowed under my shades.
Jinx hummed cutely to herself.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Atop the building across the way, Raven's nose wrinkled.
She made a face.
She looked at Robin. "Do you smell something?"
"????" Robin glanced at her.
CRUNCH!!!!
"AAAAH!!" a 'state trooper' shouted.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Damien Darhk gasped and all but dropped his megaphone. His costumed cohorts lowered their weapons and gazed over along with him at the right flank of the phalanx. Two H.I.V.E. agents were being tossed left and right like ragdolls by a dark shape incoming.
"Waaaaieee!!"
"YAAAAH!!"
Thwump!!
THWAP!!
They landed on the concrete and against the side of the diner.
Then.
CREAAAAAAK!!!
The rightmost squad car was lifted up mightily by a dark, furred object. That dark, furred object turned out to a bipedal, muscular behemoth of a human – buffalo crossbreed. The shoulders of the man-beast were plated with steel armor. Metal shingles ran up the back of his neck and formed across his forehead with a crest of sorts that laced tall, pointy 'horns' with silver menace. Cloud-white eyes narrowed as a bovine mouth sneered.
"Nnnnnnghhh!!!!"
The newcomer's furred biceps rippled as it hoisted the squad car over its horns even higher and tossed the hulking vehicle at the rest of the line.
"RRRGH!!!"
SWOOOOOSH!!!
"AAAAH!!!"
"RUN!! RUN!!!"
SMASH!!!!!!!
Glass and aluminum bits went flying under a fountain of sparks.
Damien Darhk stood still. ".........," he smirked. "Why's it always you?"
The creature sneered.
Flanking 'police' posers took aim with their pistols. BLAM!! BLAM!! BLAM!!!
FWOOOOOSH!!!
The muscular beast streaked forward on fast-acting muscles. It bounded on all fours past the streaming rivers of mid-air bullets and rammed Darhk with the side of its steel-plated neck.
WHAM!!!!
Darhk went flying sideways into a smashed squad car. CLANG!! "Nnngh!!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Wildebeest!!" Robin gasped, all but jumping up off the ledge.
Raven's blue eyes narrowed. "Who??"
Robin panted. "I....I-I-I fought him at the Tournament of Champions! After the Master of Games was defeated...I offered him to become an honorary Titan! Wh-What in the world is he doing here?!?!"
Raven shrugged. "Being an honorary ass-kicker?"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"AAAAAH!!!" a helpless H.I.V.E. agent dropped his gun and tried to run--
WHAM!!!!
Wildebeest's burly fist flew into his side.
The man went toppling through a newspaper stand clear across Main Street. He collapsed to the sidewalk with a groan.
Two H.I.V.E. spies ran to a stop and aimed at Wildebeest's back. BLAM!! BL-BLAM!! BLAM!!!
With only a half-second to glance back over his shoulders, Wildebeest leapt up straight and flew over the bullet fire. His massive frame went topsy-turvy as he flipped himself in mid-air and came landing in a crater-forming smash behind the two fake cops.
CRUNCH!!!!
The two henchmen shuddered from the vibrating ground.
GRIP!! GRIP!!
Wildebeest clutched their necks.
SMACK!!
He coconutted their heads together.
"Nnnngh...."
"Oof!"
They both collapsed.
Wildebeest grunted. He spun around.
Two H.I.V.E. henchmen dug into the backseat of a squad car and whipped out highly illegal, sawed-off shotguns. CH-CHTUNG!! BLAM!! BLAM!!
"Nnngh!!" Wildebeest gripped hard to a squad car and lifted the entire vehicle in front of him to absorb the shot.
CL-CL-CLANK!!!!
The shotgun blasts struck dead center in the bottom of the vehicle. Sparks flew. Flame crept up towards the fuel tanks.
The two H.I.V.E. members gasped and stumbled back.
Wildebeest's white eyes narrowed and his animal lips smirked.
SWOOOOSH!!!
He tossed the now-smoking squad car at them.
"AAAH!!" they started to run--
CLANK!! The car landed, sparked, and--
BOOOOOM!!!
The H.I.V.E. henchmen flew off into a building front.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
BOOOOOM!!!!
A plume of fire and burning debris lifted up high and dramatically above the Main Street of Blue Pine.
Raven gasped as shreds of flaming wreckage fell their way.
Robin gritted his teeth, dove, and shoved himself and Raven safely out of the way.
"Ooof!!"
CRUNCH!!! Burning debris slid across the rooftop.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I was covering my eyes with my left hand. Because of the brightness.
The brightness......y-yeah......that's it......
"Yeah!! Ha ha ha ha ha!!" Jinx 'chugged' her left arm. "Score one for the holy cow! HA!"
I bit my lip.
BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!
One standing 'cop' stepped backwards, firing shots like mad and gritting his teeth.
SWOOOSH!!!
Wildebeest deftly charged up, kneed him in the chest, grabbed him by the shoulders, and flung him hard through a street sign. CRACK!!!
"Nrrrrgh.....," Wildebeest snorted. He glanced over at us, white eyes thin.
"For a second there, I was afraid you'd never show!" Jinx stood up and yanked me to my feet beside her. "Cute timing, no?"
"NNGH!!"
SWOOOOSH!
GRIP!!!
Wildebeest had his hairy hand tightly wound around my neck.
"!!!!" I hung helplessly from his grasp. I wheezed for breath.
Wildebeest snarled.
"N-No!! Down, boy!!!" Jinx jumped up and gripped the beast-person's burly arm with her left hand. "Frieeend, Wildebeest! Friend!"
"......," Wildebeest's eyes narrowed. The hair on its white snout stopped standing on end and it relaxed.....letting go of me.
Plop!!
I landed on my feet and teetered back and forth, gasping for breath.
"There ya go! Good boy!" Jinx beamed. "Ghost Boy is on our side! Isn't he??" She glared my way.
I nodded weakly.
"So....you gonna take us to the passageway?" Jinx smiled. "Only you know where it is!"
Wildebeest smiled and folded his arms in a proud stance. The ridiculously dramatic flames of the wrecked squad cars rose up against his silhouette.
Jinx and I sweatdropped.
"Okay....um....can we go now?"
Wildebeest snorted. He motioned and started to bound up towards the hills.
"Great...more climbing," Jinx muttered. A beat. She shrugged. "Oh well. Come, luve—er...I mean Ghost Boy."
I frowned—Yank!!
DAH!
I stumbled after the two...but mostly Jinx.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Nnnngh!!" Robin stood up on the rooftop and looked out, panting. He squinted past the rising smoke and chaos. "They're getting away!!"
Raven struggled to get up. "Thanks for throwing me into the floor for my own good, Robin....," she grunted.
"Quick!" Robin whipped out a grappling hook. "We gotta put those flames out before—"
His speech was cut short as he noticed one of the H.I.V.E. 'cops' getting up.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Nnngh...," Damien Darhk rubbed his head. He winced and looked out at the retreating three figures with a squinting eye. "Dear Journal....today I had a cow....literally...."
A beat.
He shrugged it off. "Oh well..."
He reached into the last remaining squad car. He pulled out a red-tipped gun of sorts. After he 'cocked' it, the weapon started blinking. The man ran after the three figures, darting in and around plumes of burning wreckage and smoke.
"Time to go kill me a Trinity."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"I gotta ask you, cutie...," Jinx mused to Wildebeest as the three of us marched uphill. "....do you ever see 'J' personally?"
Wildebeest merely grunted.
"Ah....my thoughts exactly," Jinx simpered.
"......," I said.
Footsteps from behind.
"????" I spun around, a right hand reaching under my denim jacket for Myrkblade's hilt.
Jinx charged a pink hand.
Wildebeest raised his burly fists.
We all watched Damien Darhk run to a stop, kneel, and aim a red-tipped gun at us.
He whistled....and pulled the trigger.
The three of us flinched.
"......."
The red tip of his gun blinked. Like a strobe.
Jinx's eyes narrowed. "A......laser guide?"
Darhk stood up, smiling. "Don't mind the fire and brimstone...," he smirked. He walked off.
"........nnnrgh??" Wildebeest tilted his head upwards. His huge nostrils flared. Sniffing the air.
Jinx murmured: "Wh-What is it??"
I craned my neck. I heard a distinct 'rushing' sound through the atmosphere. Something glinted painfully bright in the corner of my vision.
I jerked my head to the side and peered through my shades.
There......
In the distance......
Fwooooooooooooooooooosh!
I blinked.
A guided missile?
Indeed...from some undisclosed, H.I.V.E. location...a missile was flying at us and directly at of Darhk's laser strike.
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!
"Eeek!!" Jinx raised her pink glowing hands. "Here's hoping that only half of the ensuing explosion roasts our noses off—"
Wildebeest grabbed us both.
"!!!!!"
Jinx and I remained tethered to each other by rattling handcuffs while Wildebeest hoisted us—one under each arm—and bounded off towards the mountain side.
We were suddenly carried around trees, over locks, down ditches, and up, up, up, up the hillside.
All the while, the tomahawk missile descended and trailed madly at our heels.
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!
Trees blurred by on either side of us.
Twigs littered our faces.
The earth bounded.
The missile ate at our rears louder and louder.
Wildebeest gritted his animalistic teeth.
Jinx wouldn't stop shrieking.
I wanted to hit her but I had a god damn farm animal in the way!!!
FWOOOOSH!!!
At the last second, Wildebeest leapt us up and through a throng of branches.
TH-TH-THWISH!!!
I got a mouthful of autumn leaves. I spat them out and scowled.
But not for long....
BOOOOOOM!!!!
Flame and metal exploded into the mountainside. Three or four tree trunks shattered and the branches came tumbling down in beautiful chaos.
But I wasn't looking.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Damien stared at his handiwork from far down below. As yet another plume rose into the sky, he shrugged and whipped out a remote from his pocket.
"Guess I should get rid of the evidence, then...."
SWOOOSH-CLUMP!!!
CHII-II-IING!!
"Hold it right there....," Robin growled, three birdarangs sharply held in his gloved grasp.
Raven floated down beside him. She had glowing hands stretched out and ready to inflict the first telekinetic blow on the stranger. "Drop it! Now!"
Damien merely smirked. "Drop what, Mr. and Mrs. Titan? I might say....you're a long way from your playhouse."
Robin and Raven glared at the villain from across the Main Street littered with smoking debris.
"You...," Robin uttered with a narrowed eyemask. "You have answers, don't you?"
"It depends. Do you have questions??"
"What did you want with Jinx??"
"Who do you work for??"
"I.....," Damien smiled. "Believe it or not, I work for myself. And only myself."
"Not good enough...," Robin growled. "Answer us...."
"Very well then...," Damien bowed his head. "Let's see if you can hear me out just right."
His finger pressed the button on the remote.
And every leftover piece of automobile, weaponry, and H.I.V.E. gadgetry resting around the three in the middle of the street suddenly and dramatically exploded.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The resulting explosion inside of Blue Pine could be seen from a mile away.
And exactly a mile away stood Psimon atop a mountainous peak. His wrinkled face stretched into a concentrated, telepathic scan....his glass dome of a skull reflecting in the sunlight and his cloak billowing around him.
Shimmer stood patiently behind him, running an anxious hand through her red-orange hair.
Gizmo and Mammoth sat on a log in a nearby clearing.
Neutron stood off by himself....his arms folded....looking dazed and frustrated.
After a while, Psimon's bulbous eyes popped open. The freakish elder smirked.
"What is it?" Shimmer walked over and peered up at him. "H-Have you figured out where the two punks are headed?"
"Flushed into destiny like rabbits afraid of a little flame....," Psimon sneered. "Their oafish ally is making this almost too easy for me."
"And what of those guckmunching Titans?!?!" Gizmo squealed from the distant background.
Psimon ever-so-slightly peered over his shoulder. "The Titans.....they matter little," he said. A beat. He added: "Much like their insignificant, mortal lives do now."
Shimmer smirked for some reason.
Mammoth twiddled his thumbs.
"Come....," Psimon sneered and drifted forward on deceptively nimble feet. "Let us give chase....."
And the rest of the Fearsome Five followed.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
CREAAAAK!!
Wildebeest opened a trapdoor in the earth, literally.
A cold passageway yawned before us after the accomplice of "J" lifted what looked like a slab of concrete on metal hinges. The 'lid' to the tunnel was well camouflaged and it looked so heavy that it was understandable that only Wildebeest could easily open it.....much less locate it.
"This the best you can do?" Jinx pouted.
"Nrrrrrgh," Wildebeest sneered.
"Hehehehe! Just kidding...," Jinx smiled.
I sweatdropped.
"Come on! I'm in a good mood! We're almost there!" Jinx smirked. She crawled into the tunnel before me. "Now....for a six hour trip in pure darkness until we get into City limits of our destination!"
I groaned inwardly.
"Come, friend!" the handcuffs rattled as Jinx gestured towards our beastly compatriot.
Wildebeest snickered breathily and stomped after us.
THWOMP!!!
The concrete door slammed shut behind us.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Half an hour later...
In the Main Street of Blue Pine....
Robin lay on the sidewalk off to the side....well out of range of the even-more flaming debris and wreckage.
He stirred into wakefulness, bruised all over. Some of his costume was singed.
"Nnnngh....," he sat up and rubbed his head. "The...explosion.....Jinx....and Noir...."
A beat.
His eyemask exploded. "R-Raven!!!"
He jumped to his feet, fought his dizziness, and looked around the wreckage....calling out desperately: "Raven!! Raven!!" He panted. "Raven...answer me!! Are you there?!?!"
Snnnkkktt!!
"I'm here, Robin......"
The Boy Wonder jumped. His gloved hand blurred to his side, where he produced the Titan communicator and spoke into it: "Raven?!?!"
"Robin......"
"Where in the Hell are you?? I just woke up and I was worried sick!! I thought you were toast!!"
"Must you be so 'worried'?"
Robin frowned. "Okay....don't be starting that. Not now."
"Glad to hear you're okay too," her voice droned electronically to him. "I woke up soon after the jolt of the explosion. Our little pyromaniac had vanished...and you seemed bruised pretty badly. I healed you the best I could, then set out on trailing Jinx and Noir and their animal friend before it was too late to sense their emotional signatures."
"You're.....you're following them on your own??" Robin panted.
"Yup. You're free to join me anytime you want."
"Where are you now, Raven?"
"It's hard to tell you exactly. I'm having enough trouble as it is concentrating on their signatures. They're moving in an underground passageway. They must think they're impervious to any senses......Jinx and the Wildebeest, at least."
Robin gestured into the smoke-laden air. "Can you at least tell me where you're headed??"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"I'm.....I-I'm afraid I can, Robin," Raven mumbled as she floated over the forested slopes of Earth.
"Where??"
Raven glanced ahead. Her gaze fell towards where the mountain sloped down and towards where the trees died and towards where the air—even in the bright noontime—darkened into hideous smog that covered a deathly plain of urban sprawl and grime stretching as far as the blue eye could see.
"Somewhere.....," she blinked. "Somewhere where I don't want to be alone," she droned.
"In other words......I'd better catch up to you?"
"Oh yeah," she replied into the communicator. "That's an 'oh yeah' with an emphasis on 'really quick', Robin." There was a touch of urgency in her voice as she gazed at the hellish City gradually yawning open before her. The soul-signatures of the spelunking three beneath her lead unarguably towards the location.
Along a local highway nearby—overrun with litter and tumbleweeds—a green sign lay crumpled on the side of the road where one could barely see the white—on—olive text display: 'Bludhaven, 27 miles'.