Issue of Trust
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's eyes narrow in thought, once again picking out from a list of possible topics to keep the black-haired mystic engaged.
She had flirted, pretty blatantly, with the woman.
Getting a rise out of her was fun, as it turned out. But proving that the rumors about her felt like an achievement of some kind, and she finds herself wanting to bring her out from behind the walls she cocooned herself in more as the conversation continues.
"Okay. I was gonna' ask you why you track the church, but you've just said as much as that you're sticking around for a while. Apparently I ain't the only one enjoying good conversation," she remarks.
"You've no idea."
"So, how 'bout… how did you track me? I was careful about leaving traces all over the place, and you didn't have Cy hack the cameras around to find me, if that bit about you soloing it tonight is true. The Five wouldn't be in the mood to answer your questions while bandaging See-More, Billy, and Private up. So how the hell'd you do it?"
"Somehow, I doubt that would have helped much, if Gizmo is your partner. We got a signal earlier this evening about a break-in into the museum. While in the process of aggressively questioning a cultist, some information led me to connect the two, and I headed there immediately."
"Okay, wait. Can I change my question to what, exactly, aggressively questioning means?" Jinx asks with a toothy grin. "Oh, no, wait, wait, lemme guess!"
Jinx closes her eyes in mock concentration, the grin not leaving even under the heat of Raven's glare.
"I'm picturin' something. I see Batman dropping a thug off the roof, only to grab their ankle at the exact moment he begins screaming in terrified panic. Yeah, that's what comes to mind. And here I thought your badass solo comment was to impress."
At this, Raven's expression darkens, a grin of her own forming as she leans forward over the table.
"If you have to ask that, Jinx, trust me, you don't want to know the answer."
Something about her tone sends a pleasant shiver through Jinx, and she sits back, hands raised in surrender.
"Alright, alright, I'll take the safe out here. Please, continue," she adds with a slight cough.
"By the time I reached the museum, they were gone. I could pick you up, but your aura was… different than the last time we met. Now I know why, at least. At any rate, I tracked the gem, not you. It gives off a very specific psychic frequency. You needn't worry, though. The trail was fading as I followed it, and to begin with, I imagine that very few people other than me would have any idea what they were looking for in the first place, to catch the frequency. It's fairly low-key to begin with."
"So I wasn't sloppy. Phew," Jinx sighs in relief, leaning back as the waiter returns with another plate for each of them along with a fresh, steaming beaker of tea.
"You gals're making the old man's week," he remarks with a smile as he rises from his graceful bend.
"Whoever's back there isn't getting paid enough. They're fantastic at their job," Jinx comments, handing him the dirty plates.
"Indeed, even your tea is quite well-made," Raven adds with a smile. "Tell him he can expect more business in the near future."
Nodding, the waiter leaves them to their privacy with a large smile of his own.
"Son of the owner?" Jinx ponders.
Raven smiles at the warm emotions coming from the young man as he moves back into the kitchen.
"That seems like a good guess. Now then…"
A strange thought occurs to Raven, and her mouth moves of its own accord even as her blush returns once more.
"What's your name? I mean outside of your handle," she adds quickly in response to her confused expression.
"Okay, I'll admit that I was not expecting that. I just prefer Jinx… Back when I was just Nicole Diaz, my name was dull, uninteresting, and full of a lot of memories better left dead and forgotten. So when I got the opportunity to pick my handle when the H.I.V.E. took me in, I went with a much more interesting and accurate name."
Her soured expression quickly morphs back into her smirk, an index finger raising to point at Raven.
"And what's your real name, Raven?"
"Raven," the psychic responds with a shrug.
"No way. It's at least believable as a real name unlike mine, but that's too convenient."
With a raised eyebrow, Raven simply shrugs once more at her.
"Raven, daughter of Arella. For legal purposes, I'm also Rachel Roth, bastard daughter of Angela Roth."
"Rachel, huh?"
Jinx repeats the name several times, seeming to test the sound of it.
"Not too bad. I could see it. Raven definitely suits you more, though."
She laughs lightly in response, the sound almost missed by Jinx.
"Glad I meet your approval. Why'd you break up with Kid Flash?"
Her eyes widen as soon as the words leave, her mind working backwards as it tries, and fails, to figure out where that question had come from. She internally winces at the expression on Jinx's face.
"I can ask something else if that's too personal," she states almost apologetically.
"I bet a lot of you guys have wondered that since he told you."
"I'm sure. I am not one of them. Or at least, I assumed I wasn't. I really have no clue where that came from."
Jinx nods her head, seeming to have come to a decision.
"I liked him. A lot… But I didn't like myself when I was around him," she starts. "I was becoming incredibly jealous. And it started getting on my nerves, especially when he noticed and seemed to think, thanks to his cocky attitude, that was a natural response. So, after a ton of thinking on it, I made the hard choice. I left him, for the betterment of us both… I knew that he and a lot of his friends in the Titans would feel betrayed by the departure. If I could do it all over again, though, I would have been more gentle about it. And I would've tried going into demolition work or something that didn't involve blood," she adds, trying to lighten the mood.
"I apologize for bringing up even more bad memories."
"Oh, no need for that. It's interesting, seeing what kind of thing goes on in your mind when you're not playing it cold. But, if we're going to go onto heavy topics, then fair is fair. Why don't you lead the Titans?"
Raven's mirth dwindles slightly at that, eyes noticeably widening.
"I mean, you have that black stuff you throw around, you can teleport, you know magic, and you're freaking psychic. You've also got a cool head. It's something I've wondered about ever since we first met as kids."
Raven fidgets in discomfort, a treacherous part of her brain pointing out that those very things had occurred to her not just once, especially with Nightwing's recent leadership of the team.
"Maybe she could be a good sounding board?" she sighs mentally.
"When I first arrived in Jump City, I was… looking for some aid that the Justice League in its wisdom decided didn't need to be given. I actually formed the Titans. But, as I'm sure you've gathered, I'm not a very social person. Sure, I can do a lot of damage, and I'm rational to a fault, but leading a team of strangers? No, that was Robin's thing."
"Okay… so that explains why you didn't lead them. Why don't you?"
"I… I've gotten more confident over the years. This conversation? It would never have even started back when we first started. But I prefer to stay in support, a sentiment that Nightwing vocally agrees with."
"Seriously? You're a walking tank of supernatural ass-kicking, and he has you running in the back?"
"You mentioned Dr. Light before. That is what my powers can do to someone with as much self-confidence as to never give up despite never once succeeding in his criminal career. Would you want that actively thrown against the petty thieves and simpletons in way over their head?"
"Me, the mercenary, specifically? Hell yeah, I would want that right on the front lines with me. But I could see how that'd go against bird-brain's preaching that he's any better than the Bat."
"Indeed. There's also another matter, which were I the leader, would be rather troublesome."
"Oh? Would this have anything to do with that aggressive questioning?"
"That, too, yes. And if I had the sense of a leader's responsibility, we would never have sat down together and begun enjoying such good food and conversation, something which I have not enjoyed with anyone not a Titan before, and recently even them."
Jinx blushes this time, shocked at the perceived return of her flirting.
"Well, then, I guess we should both be glad that the bird-brain commands you guys," she says, raising her glass in a mock toast.
Smirking, Raven raises her teacup and meets it with a clink.
As she sips at the steaming liquid, though, Raven's expression loses some of its warmth, then, obvious conflict showing in her expression.
A slight red glow permeates the air around Jinx, the sensation grating against Raven's mind like a knife.
"And as much as I would greatly enjoy continuing the conversation, the night is growing late, and that gem is beginning to make it more difficult to enjoy myself."
"Alright, I guess we'll move onto business, then," Jinx sighs, lamenting the shift in their conversation. "Make your case. We're both reasonable women, so if you can convince me, the bossman shouldn't ride my ass too hard, since I'll technically be finishing the job anyway."
"I don't suppose telling you to give it to me so I can guard it en transit to where it can be safely taken care of will work?"
"I like you, Raven, increasingly so the longer you loosen up in my company. And like I said, I think you're a helluva powerful sorceress. On the other hand, false imprisonment in a maximum security has made trust difficult. Also, I have this policy I thought of when I was assigned to this, namely that I trust even less than normal when it comes to handing demon-summoning gemstones powered by generations of the blood from sons killing fathers in blood rituals to take over a demonic cult. A bit long-winded, but relevant."
At this, Raven laughs once more, this time leaving no question as to whether it happens or not.
"That is a very good policy to take up, Jinx. And honestly? I would say I trust you and yours a lot more than I do the museum that put it on display for the public in the first place."
"Well, that was easier than I tho-"
"But the gem's dangerous, Jinx. Not just in general, but even wearing it puts you at risk. The thing amplifies power on top of being a portal generator. It may be a concern unwarranted, but with what I know of the Church and its machinations, it will almost certainly make your powers go out of control."
"I'm touched that you're worried, Raven," Jinx laughs, melodramatically batting her eyes and placing a hand over her heart.
"Laugh, Jinx, but know that I am most sincere. You have the power to make things break down, and now you've developed control over the Earth's ground and fire. If it doesn't cause your powers to go berserk, it could overload and kill you. At any rate, something bad will happen as long as the cursed blood poured on it still… has… huh," she says, eyes widening as a thought occurs to her.
"Uh… Raven? Care to share the sudden inspiration?"
"What if we can both win? I remove the threat of what the gem can do, and you can report a successful mission."
"I'd say that's great, if you tell me how you plan on doing that."
"We disenchant it," Raven states, mind working rapidly as the plan works itself out.
"I don't know how we'd do that. We're talking centuries of bad mojo," Jinx argues, pulling the gem from inside her shirt as it begins heating up.
"You don't want to risk a sorceress like myself misusing the gem between the time I retrieve it and the time it's given to someone who isn't an irresponsible ass, probably Doctor Fate. I want to make the gem something that won't be a danger to everyone down the road. The best way for those two goals to meet in the middle is if we remove the energy inside of the gem. We strip the power, I send it into the universe to disperse harmlessly, and what we have left is a hunk of pretty but useless red rock and several hours to further enjoy ourselves."
"Okay, I think I could see that working, actually," Jinx says with a nod. "We'd basically be hitting reset on it."
"Well then, let's move. I don't want my tea going cold again," Raven says, extending her hand out to the meta.
Nervously, Jinx grasps the surprisingly warm limb, and the booth flashes with a burst of black energy.
"I advise you don't let go," Raven warns.
Jinx is nervously aware of a tugging sensation on her mind, and suddenly, they are floating in a strange, red skyscape, their hands still linked.
"And you can astral project, too? Life just ain't fair. Anything you weren't gifted with being able to do that most people wish they could try?" Jinx groused.
Yet another laugh leaves Raven, this one sounding far less pleasing, and assuring Jinx she much prefers the other noises the psychic makes.
"Gifts indeed. This is the astral landscape Nevermore. Best place to deal with a psychic energy problem, right?"
Jinx doesn't respond as they float rapidly down to a massive hunk of flying rock and warped mountain…
**************
Author's Notes:
Nicole Diaz is an alias of the Indian version of Jinx in the comics. In the comics based around the 2000 cartoon, what Jinx describes is what I've gathered is the case with her personality while dating Kid Flash.
I recently found to my amazement that I am more of a writer than I had thought. Looking at the stats on this site from my first story, I have written 6 full-length novel fanfictions, and this one, at only the 8th of 45 chapters I've planned out so far, is already at least half the word count that is considered as a novel. So that was an awe-inspiring moment of realization. It also made me wonder why my brain doesn't work nearly as well when I'm trying to write stories in my own fictional universe.
Just one of those oddities.
Anyways, as always, I hope you're enjoying thus far! Whether you like it or not, let me know. Letting me know why would also be nice, so I can improve myself as I go. See you next time!