150. Double Jinx part 7
Whurrrrrrrr-Chtung!!
The Headmistress looked up from her desk. She blinked.
A slightly bruised and singed Damien Darhk walked quietly through the huge door and into her spacious office.
The Headmistress immediately frowned. She stood up with a stern clenching of teeth. "What happened?!?! Why are you back so soon?? Where are Jinx and the boy?!?!"
"Wildebeest," Damien grunted.
A beat.
The Headmistress' eyes narrowed. "Wildebeest???"
Damien nodded. "He was there. He took out the entire team of the operation."
"The entire team?!?!" the woman gasped.
Damien nonchalantly shrugged. "He is Wildebeest, after all."
She formed fists in her hands. "This is unbelievable.....w-was he after Jinx?? Must we add Wildebeest to the list of the Fearsome Five, the Teen Titans, and everyone else in the Brotherhood who are after that damned vixen?!?!"
"Actually....," Damien gestured calmly. "I believe he was assisting them."
".........what??" the Headmistress' eyes narrowed. "What makes you say---"
"When I launched the laser-guided missile at the three, Wildebeest grabbed Jinx and the Titan boy and ran off towards the mountain side."
"........"
"Ma'am......they're headed this way now," Damien spoke. "As easily as they may get lost on the cruel and unforgiving surface, it would benefit us to prepare ourselves down here."
A beat.
The Headmistress turned around to pace alongside the outer edge of her desk. She folded her hands together and took a deep breath.
After a while, she spoke:
"Wildebeest has proven to be.........bothersome to H.I.V.E. before. But never has he taken part in something so strictly in opposition of our goals as assisting Jinx. Somehow...I doubt that he is acting on his own. Someone must be giving him an order. Someone must be moving him against us for some reason..."
"Perhaps one of Jinx's accomplices?" Damien remarked. "The ones that helped her escape the prison?"
Silence.
The Headmistress took a breath. "It does not matter. In some ways...the speed at which Jinx is heading into this City may work to our benefit. It might throw off the Fearsome Five."
"Might," Damien smirked.
She glared at him. "Gather your men once more.....what's left of them...."
"What is the plan this time, Ma'am?" Damien asked, leaning his head to the side.
She folded her arms. "In this City...there's no need to impersonate cops to produce means of success. When we acquire Jinx this time...it must be an acquisition of cold and precise coordination." A beat. She smiled some: "Something that the Dagger of old would have been proud of."
Damien blinked. "That would require Jinx to come to a full and complete stop with her partner in flight. How's that going to happen in this City?"
"How's it not going to happen?" the Headmistress ran a hand through her graying bangs and sighed. "She's coming 'home'..."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
My black eyes peered through my shades and saw shadows and shapes that any normal human vision couldn't spot in the dark. And these shadows and shapes told me that there was a long way to go in the tunnel, and Wildebeest was ever-present in front of us, marching forward.
My metal fingers flexed, and the handcuffs around my left wrist rattled.
I took a deep breath...but it emerged from my lips as a sigh.
Wildebeest turned around and glanced at me while we marched along. His white eyes narrowed.
I stared at him.
"....."
He stared at me.
"....."
Silence.
He grunted and pressed on forward at full stride.
"I wonder if you're two related," Jinx mused with a smile.
I looked at her.
She giggled. "You're both very quiet."
".........."
"I rest my case," she shrugged with her left arm.
I looked forward.
We went on with our march through the tunnel.
The pink-haired girl leaned up in mid-walk and whispered to my left ear: "I hear he's a real friend to 'J'," she said, gesturing at the half man/half beast before us. "Like....blood brothers."
"......," I blinked.
"Er....but 'J' isn't a strong creature-person like him," Jinx digressed. "I've met 'J' before. You wouldn't expect it from a computer hacker but.....hee hee...he's actually pretty cute. Adorable, to tell the truth. I-In the 'oh I want to hug you' sort of way."
"........"
"None of this means anything to you, does it?"
I bit my lip.
"Ya know....we may have tried to kill each other quite a few times in the past, Ghost Boy," Jinx leaned into me. "But when it comes down to it....we've always been two of a kind. Athletic, dedicated to our causes, ambiguously gifted, mysterious....."
I frowned into the darkness.
There's nothing mysterious about a kinky sex kitten wannabe deathmistress.
"Why do you hate me so much?"
I did a double-take. I looked at her.
Is everyone freakin' telepathic??
But she wasn't. Still, she stared at me, blinked her pink cat eyes, and said: "Why do you hate me so much? It can't be because of Westhaven....or because I worked for Slade." A beat. "It's all because of Wyldecarde and the Titans, isn't it?"
"......."
She took a deep breath and uttered: "You hate me because I took everything that was safe and secure in your life and turned it all upside down by helping Slade frame you for the Titans' mishaps. I turned you into their 'traitor'."
I took a deep breath. My right hand clenched.
No......
No, I hate you because my best friends.........m-my only friends nearly died in yours and Slade's hands.
I gazed down at the dark floor as we traversed ahead underground.
"You know....the Titans didn't need to believe everything that Slade and I pushed them to believe," Jinx said. "Think about it how you like....but when it comes down to it, the Titans were ready to hate someone." She spoke with a certain style of solemnity. Had she been smug about it, I probably would have punched her face in and then had nothing but God and Wildebeest to deal with inside that blasted tunnel. "They chose to reject you, Ghost Boy. They chose out of the meanness of their hearts to ditch you for their own, selfish insecurities."
I took a deep breath.
Yeah......but they took me back in out of the sincere pain of their hearts.
I glared at Jinx.
Not all of us are being chased by people who want us dead.
She leaned her head to the side as she looked up at me.
"You......have so much love.....and dedication to those nerdy Titans....," she said in only the way Jinx could. "It's almost frightening......like you're joined at each and every one of them at the hip. And yet....it wasn't always like that, was it? But you let it become that way. You let it become that way........perhaps.........because you needed a family, Ghost Boy?"
I looked away from her.
She continued: "Don't assume I know nothing about this sort of stuff. 'J' and Leslie....though they may be long distance and stuff.....I think of them as family. At one time, I considered Gizmo and Mammoth to be brothers.....though they were perfect morons." She giggled a bit. A pause. She looked at me straight again. "I wonder what past life you had before you came a 'Ghost'. I wonder who or what had to have died to make you the one-track-mind that you are today."
I gritted my teeth.
You......don't......know......me......
If there was ever a mute sign that told her to back off, that was it. She drifted towards the left some in our march and was silent.
And all I could do was fume.
How......how could she possibly know me??
I shook my head and sighed.
We're not alike. We're not alike at all. I've gone through my fair share of shit......but I was never manipulated into believing in people who weren't there or hired to do criminal acts for some evil academy or......
My eyelids lowered some. I exhaled gently.
Some of us are born evil. And some of us simply are. Even if you and I are alike......even if you and I have 'pretend' families to keep us sane......I know what I am. And I know what I must do because of what I am. And the first moment I have to get out of this situation—Red Aviary or not—I'll take it. Because how in the world could you possibly choose to do something good, Jinx? It's......it's just not you.
A beat.
Is it?
Wildebeest grunted ahead of us.
I looked up.
"We're almost there?" Jinx purred.
The horned crown ahead of us nodded.
I bit my lip.
"Well then....," Jinx cracked her knuckles and smirked up at me. "Put on a brave face."
"???" I glanced down at her.
"In this City.....you'll need it."
I glanced ahead as Wildebeest approached a door from the inside and started to push against it.
Where......are we?
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Bludhaven?!?!" Cyborg remarked as he and the other Titans gathered around the Main Room's computer. "They're headed for Bludhaven??"
"At this point, they're practically inside the infested City," Robin said over the communicator. "Straight into the heart of the Downtown District. Being that it's noon and the Sun's out—despite the overcast—they have a fifteen percent greater chance of making it across three city blocks alive. But even that is going to be a harrowing experience. I've been in Bludhaven only once before in my life. Let's just say it helped harden some of the rough edges before I helped found the Titans."
"Then our friend Noir is in grave danger!" Starfire exclaimed. "Would it not be prudent for us to—?"
"I need you and the others to stay where you are, Star," Robin said.
"Man, what for?!?!" Cyborg frowned. "You wouldn't stand a chance going in that City after those two alone!" A beat. He cackled: "Raven wouldn't stand a chance!!"
"I assure you, we'll be fine. We'll trail Jinx and Noir but stay out of sight. This City isn't our jurisdiction anyways."
"Yeah, dude....that's where your friend rules the roost, huh?" Beast Boy smirked. "Say...maybe while you're in town, Nightwing might even give you a hand!!"
"Not happening."
"Why not?"
"Nightwing is Nightwing. End of story. Helping us would be 'charity work' to him. And Nightwing doesn't do charity work."
"How about the cops then?" Beast Boy shrugged.
Cyborg looked the changeling's way. "Man, are you stupid??"
Beast Boy sweatdropped.
Robin's voice cleared his throat over the intercom: "There's not been a successfully managed police department running in Bludhaven for more than fifty years. The City is a hellhole. What isn't under the manipulation of the murderous and ruthless Blockbuster is divided up by drug gangs and Chinese and Russian mobsters. Over thirty-five percent of the economic system is supported by thievery and the black market alone. The only thing keeping the U.S. army from rushing in and establishing martial law is that America doesn't have even half the infantry needed to make such an enforcement possible. Bludhaven is the eternal boil on America's backside. What goes in doesn't likely walk out. That's why—if we want to see Noir back home safely—Raven and I have to seize him now."
"And......an-and you do not desire our assistance??" Starfire murmured.
"What I desire is not the issue, Star. There's still a deadly pair of handcuffs around Noir's and Jinx's wrists. The last thing we want to do is break that link......for it may very well be fixed to something that can threaten the City."
"Man, I'm telling you!!" Cyborg groaned. "There ain't no bomb!! We've search this City more than a veteran doctor giving an elephant a prostrate exam!! What...you wanna have us dig into the core of the earth and see if there's a molten river being aimed up here at our doorstep?!?! You're asking the impossible, man!!"
"We've done the impossible before, Cyborg. You and the Titans remain vigilant. Something is going to happen in this City, and I feel it. Jinx and Noir are going to run smack-dab into fate. And if that spells the end of one of them......or of the handcuffs......I want you four ready to respond to whatever emergency may be taking place at home. Got it?"
Tempest nodded. "Got it." He looked at the others. "That sounds easy enough, huh guys?"
Cyborg took a deep breath. "Robin?"
"Yes, Cyborg?"
"You watch out for yourselves, dawg," he said. "You and Raven both!"
"I already am. Robin out."
The communication cut off.
Cyborg swiveled to face the others.
A beat.
"Do you believe.....they are in for more than that which is chewable?" Starfire inquired.
Cyborg smiled slightly. "If they haven't been chewed up as it is by now.....who are we to worry?"
The others nodded.
Silence.
"But...seriously dude...," Beast Boy sweatdropped. "What kind of crimelord would have the spunk to call himself 'Blockbuster'??"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"So let me get this straight....," Raven droned as she and Robin perched high atop an abandoned, half-rusted radio antenna on the outskirts of the City. "There is no legitimate authority in this Town to counteract the crime?" She stared out at the smog-infested horizon. ".....and we're going in there anyways?"
"What, Raven? Are you worrie—"
"Hush."
Robin smirked somewhat. "There is an authority. But it's a crooked one. Some wicked excuse for a 'police force' in Bludhaven is run by Dudley Soames, aka 'Torque' as he's known in the criminal world...a world that happily recognizes him. Soames has been working to appease Blockbuster from day one. Long story short, we can't expect help from anyone....unless we're in the mood of either being killed or gang-raped."
"Lovely," Raven blinked. She gestured towards the dirty City: "What could Jinx want from.......that?"
"Anything and everything," Robin scratched his chin as he spoke. His eyemasked gaze fell upon the distant cityscape. "Don't let the chaos of Bludhaven fool you. It's this hemisphere's deepest haven for all sorts of criminal and terrorist evils to hide. Imagine if you were that the crime and corruption were merely layers to a huge, secret package. What's in that package? Anything from Intergang's training camps to the refuse of Lexcorp's technological experiments. If it sheds blood and ruins lives somewhere in the world, it's bound to end up in this place at one time or another....and escape notice too. It would take more than the combined efforts of the entire world's superheroes to converge on this place and do anything significantly close to 'restoring order'."
"How bleak," Raven uttered. "I'm intrigued."
"Yeah, well....stay 'intrigued' to Jinx and Noir. Where do you sense they are now?"
Raven ran a finger along her temple, concentrated some, and hummed: "About two miles into the center of the Downtown region. I left an empathic tracer on them....but I'll be losing contact soon if we don't gain the distance lost in our belated pursuit of them."
"I guess we should get a move on then," Robin gestured towards the air. "Can I have a ride?"
"You can indeed," Raven droned. She produced a black disc of energy and stepped onto it.
Robin followed her.
The two floated out into the smoggy expanse. Towers of wasted car manufacturing plants and industrial castles drifted past them on their left and right. Stretching out beneath them were huge expanses of junkyards and landfills, three times the quantity of that which would be found in a huge urban region such as Gotham or even Metropolis. The stacks of junk, wrecked cars, half-burnt tires, and chemical decay seemed to form 'buildings' and 'skyscrapers' of their own on the City's perimeter. 'Controlled' fires sent toxic fumes from the center of many a landfill swarming into the air, while at the same time dramatic events were taking place beneath the flying two live; such as an occasional drug exchange or knife fight between two rival gangs.
"Nice for a vacation," Raven said.
"I've seen it all before," Robin grunted.
"Have you?"
"..........."
"..........."
The two floated on.
They passed railroad tracks in disarray. The landscape lost its junkyards and gained its dilapidated apartment complexes. Crumbling buildings. Broken down schools and playgrounds.....as if 'children' could ever be an equation in that hellhole. Some of the streets were utterly obstructed by abandoned cars or shopping carts or burning trash barrels. The smog and smoke of nearby industrial quagmires blackened the noonday sky so much that it could just as well have been night. Some of the sparse, high-tech streetlamps misinterpreted the darkness and remained illuminated constantly. In the deep and dark alleyways, the trash piled to the height of grown men and questionable stains of red intermittently splashed across the walls.
"So......," Robin broke the silence he initiated in mid-flight. "...where exactly should Noir and Jinx be?"
"They should be popping up anywhere ahead of us," Raven said.
"Popping up??" Robin leaned his head aside.
Raven nodded. "As 'from underground'."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I expected the light from the surface to stab my eyes. Imagine my surprise when I felt it almost more relaxingly dark outside the hole than inside the tunnel.
Wildebeest held the trap door up, which turned out to be a concrete flap with iron hinges that was concealed beneath a heap of biodegradable trash. I was struck with a smell that—I realized—would most likely not leave my nostrils anytime in the next foreseeable future. I stood up and looked around to find myself inside a deep, dark alleyway with smudged brick walls that stretched incalculably high upwards towards a dead-gray sky. Jinx climbed out of the tunnel and joined me on my left side. The intermittent contact of her right wrist seemed a great deal warmer there than it had ever done so before.
I felt an instant shiver up from my metal limb....and I thought instantly of my friends.
"Okie-day....," Jinx breathed. "Now for the fun part."
"..........."
She turned—forcing me to turn—and half knelt before the trap door with her hands on her knees. She smiled at Wildebeest down below, who was still hoisting up the massive concrete gate with his burly arms.
"You did good, WB," she smiled cutely. "You know how this works now, right?"
"............," Wildebeest stared.
Jinx pointed with her left hand back down the tunnel. "You go on back to where you came from and reunite with 'J'. Ghost Boy and I will take it from here, okay?"
Wildebeest uttered a sound through his nostrils that sounded like something between a hum and a whine.
"You heard me! This was part of the plan, remember? Now go....'J' needs you. Just as we needed you earlier. It's your part."
Slowly, Wildebeest nodded. His white eyes darted down the dark alleyway questionably, then rested on Jinx again. "Nnnnngh....," his lips curled slightly. A whinny. Then--
SLAM!!!!
The concrete lid fell shut. The reverberating thuds of half-beast's feet grew distant as he marched away in the tunnel.
Jinx and I were alone....like we always were.
Jinx took a deep breath and stood up.
"Well......now................n-now........."
A beat.
She glanced at me.
".......," I stared at her.
She smiled. "Now......we run."
Yank!!
And I was being pulled by her and the handcuffs down the alleyway into the labyrinth of urban Hell.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
In a street corner of Bludhaven.
The roads were empty like the edge of some ghost town or abandoned district.
A lonely figure lay in a pile of rags in front of a smashed store entrance long forgotten.
The figure was silent. Either dead or sleeping.
A brief gust of wind pushed a flap of two-month-old newspaper past the sidewalk.
The lamppost above flickered momentarily.
Silence.
Two bodies rushed out of a nearby alleyway. One petite with short-short pink hair. The other tall and dark with a denim jacket and a trucker's cap.
The two youngsters seemed busy as they darted across the road and into another alleyway entrance beyond.
And then they were gone.
A beat.
The figure in the rags stirred. Two healthy-glaring eyes peered out from a moth-eaten blanket.
A beat.
The figure stirred and raised his wrist to his face. There was a bulky black watch on the man's arm.
"Ceti Point Two....positive confirmation. Targets A and B. No sign of C. Targets A and B hurriedly running west through southern downtown quadrant. Repeat. This is an affirmative on Targets A and B."
"Copy that, Ceti Point Two. This is Yellow Nest Prime responding. Ceti Point Four, do you concur with Point Two's sighting? Over."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
A lone man atop a fire escape sat in a rickety old chair five stories above an alleyway. He smoked from a cigar and was dressed in a worn-looking jacket. His clothes seemed purposefully ragged. He glanced down in between tobacco puffs and eyed two nimble figures—handcuffed—darting through a maze of broken down, half-burnt automobiles.
He took a deep breath, slid a black communicator out of his tattered pocket, and wheezed into it: "Ceti Point Four. Confirmation of Targets A and B. Movement towards the east-west L-Train track south of Ceti Point Three's location. Speedily haste in travel. Suggest Drone Cam."
"Roger, Ceti Point Four. Ceti Point Seven, can you depatch a Drone Cam? Over."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"This is Ceti Point Seven. I do concur," spoke a man atop a three-story rooftop overlooking the Bludhaven L-Train tracks. The two figures blurred up the side of the elevated railroad in an aura of pink and a splash of black smoke. The man atop the rooftop readied a rifle of sorts. "Presently utilizing Drone Cam with frequency modulation to match remote support by Alpha Point One and Beta Point Eight."
"Roger that, Ceti Point Seven."
"Adjusting remote transceivers to support Drone Cam."
"Likewise."
"Roger," the man squinted one eye, aimed the rifle, and flipped a switch that caused an apparatus in the butt of the rifle to blink and hum. "Firing Drone Cam.......now."
PFFIFT!!!
SWIIIIISH!!!
A tiny, elliptical capsule flew out from the elongated barrel. After soaring outward for fifty feet, it sprouted two tiny wings of hard, aluminum alloy and flapped blurriedly to achieve flight. With the momentum of the gunshot and the three-way-signal support of three pointmen, it fluttered after the two running figures atop the L-Train with a microscopic camera whirring and focusing in on the duo.
"Yellow Nest Prime, Drone Cam is a go. Repeat, Drone Cam is a go. Do you receive a signal?"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Inside an abandoned building somewhere in Bludhaven—behind the wooden shingle shuttered windows of the structure's ghetto exterior, an array of computer stations and weapons cache had been set up. Men dressed in yellow uniforms sat at the computer stations, typing away at mad. Four separate monitors simultaneously displayed the black-and-white, drifting vision of the drone cam following the two figures in flight.
Standing in the center of the room, Damien Darhk spoke into a headset that he hugged to his right ear. "Affirmative, Ceti Point Seven. The Drone Can is working at one hundred percent efficiency. Nice job, and stay put. Over." He flipped a switch on his headset. He peeled it off his head, walked across the busily blinking room full of computer stations, and picked a remote phone off the hook. He dialed a number and held it to his ear.
A beat.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
A mobile phone on the Headmistress' hip vibrated.
The old woman turned around from where she stood inside a metal-plated room of the Academy. She held the phone up to her ear and spoke: "Yes? Damien?"
"Good news, Ma'am. They're in Bludhaven and we have a perfect follow on them."
"And where are they headed?" she asked firmly.
"It would appear that you are correct in your assumption, ma'am. They're headed westward. Most likely to Jinx's 'home'."
The Headmistress smiled somewhat. "Splendid. A job well-done, Damien. A job well-done indeed."
"What is the next course of action? Should I have my men intercede?"
"Negative," she shook her head and hung the phone to her face. "This City is enough to eat these two children alive."
"There is still the risk that Jinx will never be distracted. She may reach the Academy after all......and that's a danger, even if my men do not report the presence of the Fearsome Five yet."
"Then it'll be my place to distract them into our 'net'," the Headmistress said. "And then shall your men strike."
"What do you have in mind, Headmistress?"
"The bowels of this City have been calm and quiet for too long. It's time for some urban indigestion....and Jinx and Noir will be the virus." She turned around and smiled. "As for the symptoms.......I think some our students could provide a key...."
Lined up before the Headmistress were four of the Academy's most elite students. Disruptor, Charger, Bumblebee, and Deuce. They stood at ready—appearing to be at a mix of nervousness and curiosity.
"I'll get back to you....," the Headmistress hummed into the phone.
-click-
She pocketed the mobile away...staring at the students.
A beat.
Smiling, she pointed at half of them. "You two!! Prepare yourselves." Her gray eyes thinned. "I need you to run an errand for me...."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Fwooosh!!
Pl-Plant!!
Jinx and I leapt off the L-Train tracks and into an alleyway. We ran down between the two dark walls. Jinx led the way, while I trailed behind by a handcuff.
I panted. My black eyes spotted the blinking light on the center of our handcuff link. My eyes traveled up to the glinting effect caused by Jinx's pendant as it dangled out from her blouse's neck. It had slipped somehow in the midst of our sprinting. She didn't seem to care if it was out in the open or not anymore.
Jinx curved our path around a turn in the alleyway and into an open street. I noticed a few gang members in hooded jackets loitering around a corner besides a smashed street sign. They took slight notice of us, muttered one thing or another, but didn't try to intervene in our flight.
Random running figures must be common in this place......
I followed Jinx across the road, into another alleyway, and hopped with her over a crumbling, wooden fence.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"They....are close....," Raven uttered. Her teeth clenched in a visible strain.
"How close?" Robin asked as they floated over buildings.
"Nnnnnngh....," Raven tried concentrating more.
The black disc of energy beneath them started to flicker and fade.
Robin sweatdropped. "Er....Raven! J-Just concentrate on flying us, okay! I'll worry about the rest!"
She exhaled and blinked her weak eyes open. "I've lost them, Robin. I'm sorry...."
Robin's eyemask narrowed as he gazed downward. Something...or somethings caught his eye and he smirked. "Don't worry. I've 'refound' them."
"???" she gazed down. Her lips parted some.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Jinx and I jumped up and ran along a thin streak of window ledges overshadowing a city street strewn with garbage and homeless tents. A few lit fires illuminated our profiles from the 'camps' below. We leapt off the ledges into the next intersection, rolled from the landing, got to our feet, and ran forward again.
Jinx's flight was certainly a hasty one. I had somehow gotten into the pattern of meeting her fervent pace. Soon we were running and jumping and making sharp turns at a simultaneous rate. I never thought much of it...but Jinx nearly matched me in the speed department. Thanks to the powers of black murk, I could run across water and up walls and the like. But Jinx could do the same if not nearly the same, on account of her abilities to bend fate to her will. Or mostly to her will.
We both had ways of cheating.
But we weren't similar.
We weren't......
I kept matching her pace, even when she took us down a road that actually had driving cars and bikers in it. Many vehicles screeched to a stop and honked annoyingly as we ran over their illuminated bodies, frightened drivers, and streaked into an open alleyway in the far side.
We were—for the most part—heading west.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Plop!!
"Nnngh!" Robin grunted and immediately ran after touching down on the rooftop. He ran westward, hopping from building top to building top in a nimble fashion that only Robin can do.
Raven floated at an equal pace parallel to the Boy Wonder in the air. The two kept their gaze fixed on the ever-darting figures of their two targets in the streets and alleyways below. They had gone so far....and come so close...
Their speed was a desperate thing.
At the sight of the two figures ahead of them darting left and right, Robin looked over towards Robin and signaled for Raven to take one side of the street while he took the opposite.
The dark girl nodded. With a wave of her cloak, she drifted right and pursued the two silently on their far flank.
Robin leapt up buildingsides, swung on his grappling hook, and scrambled to stick to the left. His eyemask narrowed as his gaze remained firm on the targets...
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Every now and then I gazed up past the city's ceiling while running.
The 'ceiling' of Bludhaven—to me—was a thick but translucent curtain of fog floating overhead. There was an even thicker overcast sky above that...but it was difficult at best to spot. It felt like God or Allah or someone was trying to blot out our location from existence. It felt strangely unnerving and comforting all the same. I felt like going to sleep.
But Jinx's body still kept sprinting and her handcuff still kept tugging and so I kept running with her.
Over abandoned cars, around alleyways, past garbage heap, avoiding clusters of gangs.
Going somewhere....somewhere....somewhere....
I looked at Jinx.
Her face was pale. Sheen with seat. Her mouth hanging open in an endless pant.
Is she losing her cool?
"........"
I looked ahead at where we were running.
Did she ever have her cool to begin with?
I thought of Slade. I remember my naked eyes fluctuating the moment Myrkblade ran through his chest to the hilt. The saliva and blood that poured out of his breathing vents in the metal mask. His hissing voice. The moment he fell through the glass window of the frigate and was churned twice to death under the beaten waves.
Every villain......strong or weak......redeemable or not......has an end.
The vision of Dagger hanging by his bloody shirt flashed before me. His dangling figure above the dark, infinite alleyway. The rain streaking down his red-cut face. Those unchanging eyes rounding out to embrace death. The puffiness to his lips as he hissed forth his last words of spookiness before fading away forever from my grasp into the turbulent air of early July Fifth.
Every villain reaches a demise as terribly violent as the life he or she has lived.
I thought of Jinx's Cheshire cat grin. Her dancing figure of doom. The way she played the game of turning my life into a living Hell. The way she giggled and laughed about the Titans' inevitable destruction. Her pink cuteness and her homicidal heart.
And then I looked at her running next to me. Her pink hair practically buzzed from the butcher job with my sword. The sweat and panting from her face. The glinting pendant hanging desperately from her neck. The replaced outfit of cutesy-gothic lore.
Every villain............even her.........
I blinked my black eyes under my shades.
Was I going to kill her too before the night was over?
Jinx darted us around a corner and into another dark alleyway before I had a chance to sigh.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Robin swung himself up in a diagonal arc and wrapped upwards on the cord so as to land upright in a deep crouch. He gazed down from seven stories up like a true bird and eyed the streaking two from up high. After a beat, he whipped out his communicator with a Star Trek sound and uttered: "Raven. You still on their tail?"
"Barely. They're moving so fast. I sense an apocalypse that we don't know about or something."
"Tell me about it," Robin ran along the high building front, eyeing the two distant specks below. "If I didn't know better, I'd say Jinx was in a hurry."
"Tell me about it."
"No, seriously," Robin remarked. "There's something about this City that seems to be propelling her further faster than on the highway or in the forests or in Blue Pine. There's a sense of urgency in this place which is evident in her. I think it just goes to show that this is it."
"What do you mean?"
"Bludhaven is the destination of her journey."
"What could she possibly want with Noir here?"
"I think she's already used Noir for what she's wanted," Robin said, hopping a building level down onto another rooftop and continuing to run parallel to the two below. "She's gotten this far with help from him."
"Along with Wildebeest, who I might add is no longer with them."
"Hmmm....," Robin managed to breathe as he hopped onto another building top. "But she's still needing Noir. Good point."
"Well, I hope she knows what to use him for. Things are about to get ugly."
Robin's eyemask narrowed. "How so?"
"They're about to run right into hostile territory."
"Raven....," Robin grunted. "This is Bludhaven. Define 'hostile territory'...."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Jinx was halfway through leading the two of us into the courtyard when she gasped and skidded to a stop.
"Ah jeez!" she squealed.
"!!!" I came to a blurred stop beside her. I panted...swallowed....and exhaled.
We were in gang territory. We knew that from the fifty-plus gang members gathered in the far end of the courtyard ahead of us.
I was a stranger to Bludhaven. I didn't know who was who in this City. I didn't know who these gang members were affiliated with, but I did take notice of the lovely 'cache' of ghetto weapons in the corner of their 'hideout'.....things that ranged from baseball bats wrapped around with barb wire to sawed-off shotguns to Molotov cocktails. They had an impressive arsenal for whenever a 'war' was to break out between themselves and a rival gang a mile or two outside of their territory.
Fancily enough, Jinx and I single-handedly ran smack-center into their precious 'territory'....and they noticed.
"Whoah!!"
"Red light, shitheads!!"
"The Hell do you think you're doing here???"
Twenty gang members at a time walked menacingly towards us. There was a resounding 'snap!' as fifteen different switchblades were flicked out simultaneously. The threat was very much real....but I couldn't help but notice the same drunken grin on half of their unhealthy faces. I sensed a thirst for blood moreoever than anger at intrusion.
"Okaaaaaaaaay....," Jinx sweatdropped and stepped with me backwards. "Detour time."
But as soon as she—and I—turned around--
CLANK!!!
A gang member struck a metal bat into the floor, flanked by seven other grunts. "Heheheheh....," he grinned as he and his armed partners marched in towards us, encircling us with the other fifty.
Jinx and I backed up. She bit her lip. I glared under my shades. I glanced behind me as the Bludhavenists formed a circle around us. They clanked their bats and knifes and machetes together. A few strung their shotguns behind their shoulders and smirked at their spontaneous prey. The cold-hearted swiftness at which the gang gathered around to overwhelm us was startling. I had enough of a taste of this City as it was.
"So...you from out of town, punk? Your head on your shoulders is a damn giveaway."
"Gawd....look at them. They're out of breath!"
"Care to tell us what you're running from? It's not us, is it?? Heh heh heh."
Jinx grunted. "We have no time for this....we have to get through—"
"Oooooooh!!!"
"Ha ha ha ha!!"
"Woooo!!"
"Way to go, Miss Spunk! You've got us wowed shitless!"
Jinx's eyes narrowed.
I blinked.
"Hey!"
A beat.
"Hey, punk!!"
I glanced over.
Out from the crowd of weapon-brandishing strangers came a peculiarly stoned-looking creep with heavy eyes and his pockets stuffed full of something which I assume—in that city—was considered 'valuable'. He marched directly up to me and sniffed: "How much?"
"........," I stared at him.
"How much?"
"........" I still stared.
People started chuckling.
The man cracked a smile and pointed at the handcuffs. "For the key, dumbshit!!"
".......," I glanced at what joined Jinx and I together.
More chuckles.
He said: "Surely you didn't bring that nice ass of hers all the way over here for free!!"
Jinx bit her lip. She stepped back once.
"So how much, man??" he rummaged through is pockets.
"...........," I slowly looked up at the man.
He......He thinks that I'm 'selling' her......
"Look....just give us the damn key, leave us the bitch, and you'll be on your way!"
"Simple as that, man!"
"Uh uh!" the stoned one shook his head and grumbled. "We're doing this legit! I'm paying him! We've gotta build respect, ya crackheads!"
"Ha ha ha!!"
"Someone hit him—"
SWOOOSH-CRACK!!!
A random gang member rushed in and smacked the stoned man's skull in with a bat.
Blood splattered between Jinx's and my feet as the man coldly collapsed into a convulsing pile.
Jinx and I jolted.
The gang around us laughed and cackled. Some fell over drunkenly.
Another man kicked the twitching body in the side, then stepped over it, and pointed a switchblade at Jinx and I. "Okay...negotiations are over, kiddies. Though it is out of season for such a surprising treat, I think we'll take what you have to offer and spare your quiet head."
Jinx subconsciously crept closer to my left side. "I-I don't like this," she whispered. "There're too many creeps here. Even if I could get a good hex shot off at the ground or something, I-I couldn't take them all out in tim—"
"Hey, shut up!!!" The man reached forward, grabbed Jinx painfully by the left arm, and jerked her forward to him.
"Nngh!!" Jinx grunted.
The man shoved the tip of his blade up against the small part of Jinx's throat and stared tightly down at her face with a sneer......then a smile. "You'll open that pretty mouth of yours only when you're told too, sweety. From now on."
Jinx gritted her teeth in his grasp.
The man chuckled while others around him chuckled. "Wow...she's a healthy little thing isn't she!" He looked at me with a smirk. "You didn't bring her to the East B Gang first, did you? I hope not. It's kind of a turn off when a bitch has more than three holes in her."
CHIIIIIING!!!! My denim jacket ripped to shreds. Myrkblade sang into the air.
The gang members went quiet.
The man holding Jinx blinked. "................huh."
SMACK!!!!
I struck him hard across the face with the blunt side of my blade.
CRACK!!! His nose broke in an instant and the cartilage almost ripped free from under the skin. He toppled down to the ground like a quivering rag doll and gurgled bloodily in pain.
"!!!" Jinx fell against me, panting. Wide eyed.
I frowned, holding Myrkblade frozen in upswing. The sword still vibrated from the impact.
"Nnnngh!!" another gang member shook. He held up his bat and charged me. "Who the Hell do you think you ar—"
SW-SWISH—CHIIING!!! I twirled Myrkblade into an uppercut that lopped off the end of his bat with a murking trail.
"!!!!" he skidded to a gasping stop.
SWOOOSH!!! I flung my smoking blade into his chest, bruised his ribs, and struck my right foot out hard into his chest. WHAM!!!
"OOF!!" he fell back into two other thugs. All three collapsed hard to the floor. THWUMP!!
"Shit!!"
"They're superfreaks!!"
"Damn stupid mutants!!"
"Fresh crap straight out of Metropolis! I swear!!"
"Get 'em!!"
"No way! I ain't losing my head!!"
"Shit....BUT THEY'RE IN OUR PLACE!!"
"Damn....bastard freaks!!"
"You're messing with the wrong gang!!"
The circle around us started shaking fists and yelling and grunting and sneering.
A little shaken up, Jinx leaned into me. She stared blankly at the floor. She gulped. "That.....Th-That is why I don't like men......."
"........," I found myself with a hand on her shoulder as I distanced us safely from the growingly loud and angry crowd. I drifted us further into the center. I eyed the men one at a time.
Jinx looked up at me. "Why didn't you just let them cut me to death or something??" A blink. "Is it the bomb?"
I felt the handcuffs against my left wrist as if for the first time in hours.
Yeah......
The bomb.........
We drew back towards a brick wall that formed the edge of the growingly tempestuous courtyard. The encircling gang members started brandishing their shotguns and holding machetes out threateningly and other various poses of battle-read aggression.
"Okay....if we can just devise a way out of this...," Jinx muttered. "...we can run off with our butts in tact and continue on with our journey uninterrupted."
A beat.
"R-Right?" she stammered.
I glanced down at her.
You're asking me?
A beat.
Stop hugging me, dammit!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SWOOOSH!!
A pair of black heels landed on the rooftop of a building looming over the thunderous courtyard.
Bumblebee stared down. Her brown eyes narrowed. She rested her hands on her hips. Her 'wings' rested silently behind her.
Cl-Clamp!!
Charger landed in a squat beside her, then slowly stood up. He walked forward in a suit of red and blue. Two firm eyes glared out from a crimson helmet as he looked at the sight down below and whistled.
"I wonder if we're even needed," Charger uttered.
Bumblebee shrugged. "The Headmistress sent us here for a reason." She whipped out two 'stinger' guns that sparkled bright yellow bolts of energy. "If a calamity is what she wants, a calamity is what she's gonna get." She looked up and eyed the urbanscape around them. She spotted a flickering, neon billboard looming on the edge of an apartment building. "Shoot for that, Batteryhead. I'll make the sky fall in the meantime."
Charger sneered: "Don't call me 'batteryhead'," he grumbled as he produced a huge bolt of electricity from deep within his being and aimed at the distant neon lights. "It's annoying."
She floated upwards, her wings 'buzzing'. She smirked. "You know as much as I do that we're not graded on attitude."
"Thank god," Charger groaned as he produced greater and greater electrical pulses. "You'd be in the Honors courses."
"I already am in the Honors Courses."
"Oh go to Hell."
"Hehehehe. Riot time!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The gang closed in on us. Bats and machetes and guns glinting in some distant firelight.
Jinx and I were shoulder to shoulder. We could feel each other's heartbeats.
"Okay....I've got it....," the pink-headed witch uttered. "On the count of three, we bolt like Hell through the left wing of the group. If we make it out into the street, we should be okay. You got it?"
Yeah, whatever......
I nodded, holding Myrkblade high with one hand.
The gang crept forward. We could see the colors of their eyes.
"One...."
Sneering teeth.
Dirty breaths.
"Two....."
Raised weapons.
White knuckles.
Jinx's whole body tensed.
"Thr—"
FLASH!!!!!!!!
The two of us blinked.
We glanced up.
So did the gang members.
The neon lights of an overhead billboard pulsed, shook, and—
POP!!!!
Sparks and shattered glass flew down in a bright torrent.
Men with weapons gasped and dove out of the way. Some were cut by the shards. A handful of others found their clothes caught on fire and had to roll on the ground in a rush to put the flickering tongues out.
Jinx panted, confused.
When....
FLASH!!!
CRUMBLE!!!!!!!
Everyone still standing and in one sane piece of mind spun to look elsewhere above us.
A huge chunk of buildingside was falling down in crumbling brick.
"Watch out!!"
Gang members grunted and jumped out of the way barely in the nick of time.
CRAAAAAA-AAAAAAAASH!!!!
Dust and debris flew across the collapsing hideout.
I bit my lip.
Sure enough, everyone turned and frowned at us.
"It's them!!"
"Those freaks!"
"They're doing it!!"
"They're tearing the place down with their powers!!"
"Get 'em!!!"
"DIE!!!"
Jinx and I winced.
"Why can't H.I.V.E. build an Academy under Disneyland sometime??" Jinx murmured.
"YAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!"
Metal bats, strings of barbed wire, knives, and bricks were thrown at us in one giant convergence of hate.
SWIIIIISH!!!
Jinx pulsed pink energy.
I let loose a burst of murk.
The two of us leapt out of the tossed weaponry and flipped forward into the crowd.
SWOOOOOSH!!
We landed haphazardly in the center of the murderous mob.
Jinx and I stood up, panting. Surrounded by heated bodies. Swinging fists. Growling voices.
"HAAAA!!!" Jinx shot both with her free left hand and her bound right hand.
Two blurring streams of pink flew into the crowd and tripped them hard.
Jinx recoiled.
I sprung forward.
SWOOOOOSH!!!
I swung Myrkblade out hard, snapped two weapons in two, and landed the blunt side of my blade into a crook's chest. THWAP!!! Bodies fell.
More gang members came at our rear.
Jinx held her breath. She leapt up, spun around my body, forced me to spin, and launched herself forward to the extent of her handcuff's length to launch a spiraling hex bolt at a huge onrush of thugs. "HAAA!!!"
FWOOOOSH!!!
Ten men fell down hard as if on a sea of invisible banana peels.
Two punks with sawed off shotguns suddenly ran up and aimed at our skulls.
"EEEK!!" Jinx plowed into me with a trembling hug.
I gritted my teeth and threw us back onto the floor.
BL-BLAM!!!
BLAM!!!!
The huge spread of shotgun shot flew over us, nearly burning our noses.
I produced a carpet of murk beneath our sprawled bodies. We slipped forward as if on concrete ice till we were behind the two gunmen.
SWOOOSH!!
I sprung the two of us up into a spinning jump.
Jinx struck her leg out.
I struck my leg out.
TH-THWAP!!!
We kicked both men in their backs.
"OOF!!"
"UGH!!"
We landed from our jump.
Three thugs came at us with machetes swinging. SWWWWISH!!! SW-SWISH!!
CLANK!! I deflected one swing with Myrkblade. SWIISH!! I ducked another swing. FWOOSH!! Jinx vaulted up, rolled over my shoulders to avoid the third swing, and pivoted her legs off my torso to kick two of the swinging men across their cheeks with her shoes.
WH-WHACK!!!
I slammed the hilt of Myrkblade into the ribcage of the last man. WHUMP!!!
The three collapsed.
The rest of the crowd surged in.
Jinx and I stood, our glowing hand/sword raised.
And—
CRUMBLE!!!!!!!
We gasped.
The ground shook.
From up above---
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Bumblebee buzzed over the scene. She zapped huge slivers of the wall from invisible vantage points. Her sparking guns let loose yellow bolts of hot energy that severed the brick from the buildingfronts and sent them spiraling threatening onto the angry crowd below.
In the meantime, Charger had jumped to a buildingtop across the way and was busy sending huge electric charges into light bulbs and lampposts, causing more sparks and glass to litter the chaotic crowd below.
And both students were smiling.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
CRAAAAA-AAAAAAASH!!!
FL-FL-FLASH!!!
Fueled on by the chaos, the crowd got more and more angry. They charged in on us in fervor. Their weapons swung harder. Their fists grew faster and faster in furious flesh-hunger.
Jinx and I found ourselves backflipping blades, ducking clubs, and jumping over gunshots. A knife or two grazed me at a few points. I grunted and pivoted so that I could deflect the worst of the attackers. I didn't think much of it, but I was doing my best to bear the brunt of the battle. And where was Jinx?? Anywhere I positioned her...which turned out to be away from the worst heat.
Dammit......what's wrong with me??
Before I could pass out from the frantic melee, Jinx saved the day by shouting: "A break! A break, Ghost Boy! To our left!!"
I looked.
"No! No! Our other left!!"
I looked.
Where a few groaning bodies were sprawled, an open path lead into the naked street.
Without thinking, I--
FWOOOOOOOSH!!!
"YAAAAK!!" Jinx felt her body yanked away from a hex-bolt fight with a dozen men. She flew from behind me like a pink cape as I blurred us out of the infernal courtyard and into the street beyond.
The gangs behind us shouted and took chase.
"Those yellow-bellied freaks!!"
"After them!!!"
"Call the Red Street families!! They owe us!!"
"Let's skin their shitty-ass hides!!"
"Bastards!!"
The shouting grew distant behind us, but not distant enough. Even as fast as I was running us, I sensed I couldn't go fast enough to lose them.
I panted.
In the meantime, Jinx's feet blurred into pink action as she caught up with my running pace. She panted: "You know....just listening to them makes me feel 'cute' again."
".......," I glanced at her in mid-sprint.
She smiled again. "Thanks, ya know?"
"......"
"I mean it!" she pouted. "Thank you...G-H-O-S-T B-O-Y."
I exhaled and looked ahead.
Don't EVER thank me......
"Hehehehe!"
And stop giggling.
"We are sooooo out of here!" she grinned. A beat. Her smile faded. "Unless they get angrier for some reason."
FLASH!!!
CRUMBLE!!!!!!!!
We both gasped and looked up.
"What the fuzzball?!?!"
Brickwork and neon light shards fell down at us from the building sides.
"EEK!!" Jinx jumped into me.
"!!!!"
We teetered to the side in mid-sprint.
CRAAAAAA-AAAAAAASH!!
The debris littered where our bodies would surely have been crushed.
We skidded to a stop. Panting.
"Where in the world is that coming from?!?!?!" Jinx panted.
I swallowed.
I know......it's a familiar sensation......ISN'T IT, JINX?!?!
SCREEEEEEEECH!!!
We both spun and glanced behind us.
Two beat-up pickup trucks full of gang members drove up from the courtyard far behind us. Thugs in the backseat shouted and whooped and cheered with bloodlust. They had uzzis and shotguns in their grasp.
".......," Jinx sweatropped. "What's it that Charleston Heston said about apes with guns?"
I glared at her.
Get an education.
VROOOOOOOM!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
BLAM!! BLAM!!!
Bullet shot ricocheted up towards our feet in a white string of flashes.
P-P-P-P-P-P-P-PING!!!
"EEKNESS!!" Jinx shrieked.
STOP THAT!!
I yanked at her and blurred us to the right down a street.
SCREEEEEEEECH!!!!!
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!
The two trucks swerved around the corner of the road and zoomed after us, ballistics flying.
BLAM!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
BL-BLAM!!!
We blurred in a Technicolor combination of pink and black.
Gasping for breath and acceleration as the bullets ate up at our heels.
"We'll....be...fine....," Jinx shuddered as we ran for our lives and nothing more. "We'll... be.... fine... as.... long... as.... we... just.... lose... them. Yeah, that's it. Just....lose...them...."
And that's when a huge chunk of buildingfront flew down and landed through the front engine of the first pickup truck.
SWOOOOOSH-CRUNCH!!!!!!
The truck upended. Bodies and guns went flying across the pavement.
Jinx glanced back. "Whoah!!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Bumblebee streaked down the rooftops of the buildings, zapping continuously downward with her two bolt-pistols.
Charger ran parallel to her on the buildingtops, letting loose huge pulses of electricity.
Their combine energy bolts struck building faces and electrical wires, raining down destruction on those pursuing us.
Just enough to piss them off more.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
And judging by the bazooka, they were certainly pissed off.
"Jeez!!!" Jinx hissed at the truck pursuing us. "RPG AT SIX O'CLOCK!!!"
"????" I made a face as we ran.
Since when did street gangs get a hand on Magic: The Gathering??
"Hello?!?! Didn't you hear me?? Rocket Propelled Grenade!!!"
I glanced back behind me and saw the man in the back of the pickup truck with the bazooka.
Oh......right. God, how'd I fall for that--
PFTCHOOOOO!!!!!!!!
The bazooka head flew at us.
SHOOOOOM!!!!
Jinx glanced at both sides of the road streaking past us. "Right or left?!?!" There was no legitimate alleyway to rush into.
SHOOOOOOOOM!!!
The explosive burned at our blurring heels.
"RIGHT OR LEFT?!?!" Jinx panicked.
I panted.
I glanced down.
Rushing up beneath us was a manhole cover.....barely cracked open.
How about down??
FWOOOSH!!
I leapt us up.
Jinx gasped.
The RPG flew into us.
I twirled us down.
I swan-dived.
I dragged Jinx with me.
Smoke danced out of my eyes...under my shades.
Murk consumed my body, traveled up the handcuff at once, and enveloped Jinx.
With great concentration, I morphed the two of us into black steam and flung us down straight through the crack in the metal and concrete.
FWOOOOOOOSH-CLANG!!!
The manhole coverlid danced and rattled for half a second before—
PHOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!
The bazooka sent metal and concrete flying. A black crater formed in the center of the street.
SCREEEEEEECH!!!
The pickup truck came to a violent stop in front of the flaming patch of urban ground. Random creeps from the street ran up with machetes and baseball bats....only to find no two bodies to hack apart.
"The Hell?!?!"
"They're gone!!!"
"D-Did we cook them?!?!"
"No, man!! The freaks teleported somewhere!!"
"Damn it!!"
"Where are those bastards?!?!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Over the smoking scene...
Bumblebee hovered in the air and Charger perched on a building side.
They both peered down at the gathering group of angry, confused thugs.
"Did we.....did we do them too much trouble?" Charger murmured.
"Hmpph...," Bumblebee smirked. "Hardly enough."
"Heh. H-Hey...I think the Headmistress is calling us."
Bumblebee holstered her zappers away and pulled out a communicator. "Yes, Ma'am!"
"Judging from your location......you're close to the 'net'. What happened to Jinx and the boy?"
"Consider them 'netted', Headmistress," Bumblebee smiled proudly. "That swordsman kid....he ported the two of them into the sewers. And at this point....the sewers only lead one place."
"Good......Good......that's where we're waiting for our Jinx."
"Hey Headmistress, I've got an idea," Bumblebee uttered. "How about I become your 'Jinx' from now on?"
Charger rolled his eyes.
"You're not graded for attitude, Bumblebee."
"Right. Of course not."
Charger chuckled.
Bumblebee stuck her tongue out at him.
"Return to the Academy. But make sure nobody follows you. Mr. Darhk will take care of the rest."
"Gotcha. Bumblebee out."
Charger spoke: "You know....when you first came to the Academy....you were never so....so...."
Bumblebee pocketed her communicator away. She raised an eyebrow: "Badass?"
"I was gonna say 'annoying', but sure."
"Go screw yourself, Charger."
"Maybe if you helped me."
"Pfft...," Bumblebee started to flutter northward. "Whatever. Hornball."
"........."
"Charger?"
"............"
"Charger????" Bumblebee turned to look down at him. Her eyes widened.
The young villain was convulsing....for a black 'talon' of energy had stretched out of the ceiling and was clasping over his mouth.
"Mmmmmmfff!!"
Bumblebee blinked. "Now what in the Sam Hel—"
"HIYAAAAAAAAUGH!!"
Bumblebee spun around....and got a face full of Robin.
WHAM!!!!
"UNGH!!" she flew down and tumbled across the gravel of the rooftop. "Nnngh! Nnnngh! Ugh!!"
Robin landed from his swing. He dashed across the buildingtop, gritted his teeth, and whipped out a metal staff which he extended and swung down at her. SWIIIISH!!
"!!!!" Bumblebee fluttered her wings, shot herself upright, and swung her zappers up in a blink of an eye. CL-CLANG!!! She met both weapons to Robin's staff with a shower of sparks.
Robin pivoted and swung his foot under her legs.
WHAP!!
"Augh!!" she fell back.
WHAM!!!
He struck the rod deep into her gut.
"MMMF!!" she caught her breath barely, spiraled, and hovered sickly and off-balance across the rooftop. "Nnngh....where'd you come from, sh-shorty??"
"H.I.V.E....," Robin sneered and spun his staff into ready. "We should have known. This is all about you and Jinx. What's she doing....making you all scared? She got some vendetta on you!!"
"What's it to you, Titan?!?!" Bumblebee sneered. She glanced behind her.
Raven floated up behind Charger, encasing him in a cocoon of dark energy.
Robin pointed with a gloved finger. "You weren't just threatening Jinx's life! Our friend is handcuffed to her!"
"Hehehe....so the Headmistress was right," Bumblebee smiled. "You do have a buddy in the witch's clutches. Don't you realize that he's expendable?? We're dealing with much bigger crap here, Bird Brat!"
Robin's eyemask narrowed. "You're going to answer some questions for us."
"Or else what?"
Raven floated over. "We'll start by ripping that mouth of yours off with your own teeth."
"Raven, I've got the intimidation going fine here. Thanks anyways."
"Whatever," the dark girl groaned.
"Pfft...you guys are whimps," Bumblebee backed up with her zappers sparking. "I can take on you AND your doppelgangers....if you had any!!"
"Want us to make you see double?" Robin's fists clenched. "That can be arranged."
"Unless you tell us where Jinx is going," Raven added.
"Jinx could be going anywhere," Bumblebee shrugged. "But I can guarantee where you two will end up. How's an early grave sound?"
FLASH!!!
The young villainess disappeared.
Robin gasped.
Raven's eyes narrowed.
Robin spun around. "Where....Wh-Where'd she go?"
Raven's lips parted. "She's....she's still here...."
"WHERE?!?!" Robin grunted.
"Hey Mr. Anorexic!!!"
"?!?!?!" Robin glanced down.
A familiar—but four inch tall Bumblebee peered up from under the neck of Robin's shirt. She winked.
"Try some tighter spandex!!"
And her tiny zappers flickered with unreal strength as her tiny figure flew up his chin in a massive uppercut.
WHAM!!!!!
"UGH!!!" Robin flew back.
Raven gasped and her eyes stopped glowing. "Robin!!!"
The black shield around Charger faded. "Nnnngh!!" The red and blue villain shook his fists, summoned a huge wave of electricity, and sent it soaring at the two Titans as a shrunken Bumblebee flew—laughing—to take cover.
ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
CLANG!!!!
A half a mile away from the scene of the gang-chase, I kicked a metal cover up off another manhole. I leapt up, gritted my teeth, and strained to pull a frazzled Jinx up to the road alongside me.
"Nnnnghhh!!" she shivered all over. "Warn me next time, Ghost Boy! Warn me before you go all teleporty on me!! Jeez!!"
I simpered.
She swatted at bugs and invisible creepy crawling things that were all over her upper limbs but weren't really.
"Ick....Ick!! Gives me the willies! Jinx doesn't like being taken apart molecule by molecule! Jinx doesn't!!"
I simpered again.
Give me a reason to want to kill you again.
"Okay...so....um....," Jinx straightened nonexistent tufts of hair, stood up straight, and faced to our left. "...we were...heading west. Right."
She started running.
I followed along.
We crept through a long-abandoned parking lot covered in potholes and random weeds growing from between the cracks. Shattered chain-link fences hung on either side of us. Buildings rose brown and rusty in the distance. We were away from the heart of downtown Bludhaven....but everything still looked like the grimey, overcast hellhole.
"If we make time, we'll be there sooner than you can say---"
".................."
A beat.
Silence.
"????" I looked at her.
Jinx had frozen in mid-step. Her cat eyes were wide. Vibrantly pink. Her lips hung open. A breath escaped her.
"Hecate......."
"???"
I looked in the direction her eyes were aimed.
I blinked.
There was....an apartment complex. A simple three-story collection of buildings forming a hooked 'U' shape. The buildings were run-down, with plenty of holes in the outer structure and wooden planks covering the windows and such ruination. An occasional pile of junk or two formed scattered mountains before us....but quite obvious before our gaze rested a playground. Complete with a jungle gym and dismantled swingsets and a fort and a rusted slide.
It was anything I could have expected from the crumbling, urban environment.
But for some reason....Jinx's eyes were stuck on the sight of the....site.
She crept forward.
I helplessly followed.
Her breath came with every step: "This.....is....m-my....home...."
"???" I leaned my head to the side.
Your home???
Her jaw fell more.
"The.....apartment......," she glanced aside. She saw a half-broken, wooden bench bordering the playground. "....the....the reading spot..." Her pink cat eyes trailed up towards a distant apartment balcony. ".....Mommy......she would......she would stand out there.......gazing at the sunset....." Her eyes fell down beneath us. We came to a stop.
I looked down as well.
A sandbox rested in a spot of the playground closest to the 'reading spot' bench. Mud and grime filled the wooden square. A plastic pale rested to the side along with a toy shovel.
Jinx's eyes rounded. She bit her lip. "Faye......Fiona........."
"..........."
Silence.
Jinx fell to her knees.
My left hand jerked down with her....but I stood. I didn't stop standing.
"Faye......F-Fiona......," Jinx clutched the pendant to her chest. A beat. Her shoulders shook. Her eyes clenched shut as the first moisture since her collapse with Leslie threatened to leak from her again. "....I....I don't remember....I-I don't remember EVER living in Bludhaven."
A beat.
She opened her eyes again. And they were full of fire Her fingers around the pendant formed a fist and for a moment there I thought she was going to snap the heirloom into pieces.
"Psimon.......Dagger.........H.I.V.E........what do you want from me still?? Why did you....d-did you make this up?? Where is my real home?!?! Is this it?? This sh-shitty place?!?! Was I born in a den of crime?!?! Why do you want me to think of this place as my home?!?! Do I even have a home?!?! Nnnghhh!!!"
She clutched her butchered pink head and tilted her head to the sky. "NNNGHH!!! I HATE YOU!!! CAN'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE FOR ONCE?!?! CAN'T YOU?!?!" She heaved forward in a sob. "You're worse.....you're almost w-worse than Red Aviary........I.......I don't know. I don't know anything anymore...except that I hate you.....I hate you so much......."
".........," I swallowed. I tried not to look at her shaking figure.
She hugged herself with one arm while with her other arm she leaned limply against my left leg.
"What....Wh-What am I doing here, Ghost Boy? Why aren't I dead? Wh-Why aren't I the new paint job to my prison cell back in the City?"
I took a deep breath.
Why am I with you for that matter, Jinx?
Whurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-Cting!!
"???" Jinx gasped.
I looked up.
There was something on the jungle gym. Blinking.
Whurrrrrrrrrrrrr-Chting! Chting! Chting!!
Three more blinking things.
On the swingset. The fort. In the sandbox.
All around us.
Blinking things.
A radio squabble.
Shadows in the distance.
Waiting in ambush.
Jinx jumped up and grabbed my torso. "Ghost Boy!! It's a trap—"
The explosives laughed in red flame.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!