Raw Deal (Part I)
Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form own the show Teen Titans, nor the various DC comics on which this fanfiction is based.
Jinx stares intently at the menu, seeming to be making some kind of important decision.
With a nod, she takes the notepad on the table and begins writing her order, Raven's eyebrow arcing at the amount of time it takes.
Wordlessly, Jinx puts her menu down and hands the notepad over.
"Well, you apparently weren't kidding about the calories. I suppose a five-on-one fight would take a lot of energy," Raven remarks, looking over the lengthy order.
With a hum of thought, Raven quickly scrawls her own order down and, making sure the cooks in the back aren't looking, sends the paper floating over with her soul-self.
"Actually, it was really only a two-on-one. I took Private H.I.V.E. and See-More out before they even knew I was there, and Billy didn't even divide before he was unconscious. Angel's the only one who even managed to hit me," Jinx muses, sounding more than a little proud of herself.
"And yes, it burned a lot of energy," she continues. "It didn't take much effort, mind you, but my metabolism is like a crackhead's when I use my magic."
"Interesting. Now, as to the reason we're here and I'm not at home, meditating…?" Raven ponders, eye twitching slightly in irritation.
"Hey, you complained that I was always talkative. Wouldn't dream of disappointing," Jinx says with a grin.
Raven begins to retort when the meta raises her index finger in interruption.
"I will answer any questions you have for me… within the realm of what is safe for me to do so and I'm able. In return, Raven, you're going to promise not to attack or attempt to arrest me, or otherwise cause me trouble, until I have finished and you've at least heard me out first. Deal?"
Raven ponders this for a short eternity. On the one hand, the gem was dangerous, and having it out in the open could attract all manners of dangerous attentions at any moment.
"On the other hand, it's been stolen for at least a week, and nobody tried to kill Wykkyd to get it in that time," she muses.
With a sigh, Raven mentally curses her curiosity, her irritation over dealing with Zatanna and finding her faith in Earth misplaced having apparently made her more indulging to her emotions than usual.
"That seems… agreeable," she finally states, glaring at Jinx's relieved sigh, a smile creeping across her lips.
The glare quickly vanishes, though, when painful memories surface in the meta's gaze, her emotions already taking on an unpleasant quality.
"I guess I should start with what's been going on for my two years of being off the radar," Jinx states with a sigh.
"That seems like a good place to start, if you feel you need to work your way to your point," Raven agrees.
Jinx loses her grin, glaring at the empath.
"When I had broken up with Kid Flash, it was for personal reasons. I didn't have anything against the Titans, and I found that I liked what I did while helping you guys. So, I decided to strike out on my own as a hero," Jinx begins. "I mean, helping the innocent, saving lives, it felt… good. Really good. Like I could work off the shit that Brother Blood had us doing while he ran the H.I.V.E., y'know?"
At the mention of the cultist, the gem seems to glow slightly, and with a grimace, Jinx tucks it back beneath her shirt, the pink color hiding the glow sufficiently.
"But, as I'm sure you know, bad luck and helping people don't exactly go together. I saved some people, sure, but I usually ended up accidentally doing way more harm than help, and not just to the people I was intending to help."
"I can only imagine," Raven muses. "Internal organs would not deal with with accelerated decay, if you were not in complete control when attacking directly. Evidently you've gained said control," she adds with a slight smile, pointing at her chest.
"You have no idea how right you are, Raven," the meta sighs, playing with a pink strand of hair.
"One time, this was about a month into soloing it, I found this man being beaten. I mean, really beaten. The guy was using a freaking crow bar, and he was just pounding on the guy like he was practicing for a baseball game. I attacked him from behind, planning on causing his arm to break or somethin'… But he must've seen my shadow, or heard me, or something, because he turned around."
Raven pales, already suspecting how the story is going to end.
"He still had his arm up, ready to swing, and he was left-handed. My hex bolt hit him, right in the chest. His heart instantly seized, and less than an hour later, the police had me in their meta containment cuffs, on my way to prison for murder."
"Surely they saw it as defense on behalf of someone unable to defend themselves," Raven states drily.
"They would've. If I wasn't a known thief and a metahuman. Between the lack of help from the no longer functioning H.I.V.E., and the bevy of crimes no longer classified and hidden because of it, I was already in a bad place with them. My lawyer was absolute shit, since nobody of skill would touch an ex-H.I.V.E. student, and the few who would were so crooked I didn't want to touch them with a ten foot pole. All that, though, would've been fine. I mean, I was still known to have worked with the Titans, and they didn't know I'd quit."
"I'm guessing that didn't help matters, though."
"Not a bit. The judge was a pious asshole. One of those 'metas are abominations' types, with a real stick up his ass. How he runs a court, I'll never know. Probably had something to do with the Senator, the father of the attacker I'd killed, giving him instruction on how to handle me."
"Oh, Jinx. You could've called us. Kid Flash would possibly have been an issue for you, but we would have helped. Cy and Nightwing both have contacts that could've helped," Raven says, a slightly sympathetic sound to her tone.
"I thought about it. I figured that Cyborg would've helped. We weren't exactly friends, but he knew me well enough from infiltrating the H.I.V.E. that murder wasn't my thing. But that phone call you're supposed to get? It never showed up, and I went ignored when I asked for it."
Raven winces at the bitterness in the woman's tone, an entirely understandable feeling.
"Before I knew it, I was put in Belle Reve with a sentence of above 200 years, once they started bringing all the crimes they could pin on me up. That place… it's built to house villains and metahumans, y'know? The judge and police didn't know I wasn't one of them anymore, but the inmates sure as hell did, and they made it very clear I wasn't welcome."
Closing her eyes, Jinx pulls in a deep breath, seeming to center herself.
"So I was in maximum security, I had a collar that stunted my powers, and I was in a lions' den waiting for me to sleep so they could shank me. I learned how to defend myself, fast."
"I would imagine so. At least you aren't the stick you used to be, I suppose," Raven offers tokenly.
"Yeah, I guess keeping a step ahead of people wanting to kill me as a traitor to prove a point certainly had to give me something out of it," Jinx sighs...
Author's Notes:
As can probably be guessed, Jinx has gone through some heavy stuff. I'm finding it interesting writing her from the perspective of what would happen when she liked the Titans but removed herself from the person who connected her to the rest of them.
As always, hope you're enjoying yourself, and all praise and criticisms are equally welcome! See you next time!