3/11/17

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or anything else I may reference

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Cursed

Chapter Fifteen: Madame Rouge

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March 3, 2005

As children begin to file into the truck, Jade slowly starts to turn off her powers. No one seems to notice us, as everyone has already found their friends. Selinda and Baran sit on the floor close to us, talking to each other in hushed whispers. Roy fixes his hair with the reflection of the truck wall, while Jade snacks on some Lifesavers she found in her backpack and occasionally passes one to one of us. Suddenly, the truck door closes and leaves us all in the dark.

Jade sticks the candy in her pocket and whispers, "Are we leaving now?"

A quick jolt tells us that we're moving, answering Jade's question. I hold on to someone's arm as we take a sharp turn, letting go when I feel that it's safe. My eyelids start feeling heavy, and the darkness reminds me just how tired I am. Well, it can't hurt to take a little nap, can it?

I lean my head against the wall and try not to think about my family. It's been so long since I've seen them, and I really miss them. I miss playing dress up with Felicity, and bothering my foster parents about letting Holly and Dawn spend the night. I miss Dad teaching me how to draw, and Mom telling me stories about things that happened at work. I miss the way the four of us would sit on the couch together and watch the news so I could find stories about The Flash. I remember when Mom and Dad told us they were going to adopt us, and they told us we had to move to Central City to do it. I was so excited back then. I convinced myself that Captain Cold or Trickster was going to hold me hostage someday, and that The Flash would come save me just in time. It was all I could think about for weeks. I wish I could go back to those days.

A single tear drops from my eyes as they flutter shut.

...

"Mal? C'mon, wake up!"

Huh... what?

"Mallory?"

I open my eyes, but I can't see anything. It takes a moment before they adjust to the dark.

"I don't think we're moving anymore," I yawn, sitting up very slowly.

"Yeah, that's why me 'n Roy woke you up."

"I think we're probably there. Unless we're just gassing up or something."

Something feels off. It's like I was thinking about something important, but I can't remember what it is.

The door opens, blinding us with light. The Headmistress stands outside, motioning for us to follow her. The feeling doesn't go away, but it changes. Suddenly, it's like someone's watching me. I try to ignore it as I follow the other kids out, but it consumes my thoughts and refuses to leave. In my absentmindedness, I stumble forward and trip into a Level H.

"Watch where you're going you pink-haired freak!" she snaps.

"Sorry Sarah," I say weakly. She glares at me and continues walking.

Selinda puts a hand on my shoulder. "Knock it off Viera."

Sarah turns around long enough to roll her eyes. "Look Flinders, did I ask your opinion. No? Well then, looks like I'll be on my way."

I sigh and look up and Selinda. "Is my hair really that pink?"

She hesitates.

"Well... it's getting there..."

Great, just what I needed.

I jump off the edge of the truck and join Jade and Roy in line. It shouldn't matter how much I look like a freak, but shouldn't doesn't mean doesn't. Something twists in my heart, but I shove it to the side and try to let excitement take over. All this does is add to the mess of conflicting feelings I'm already dealing with. One of the oldest students finally comes out of the truck carrying the binder, and passes it to the Headmistress. She thanks him, and goes to stand in front of us.

Headmistress looks right at us, but doesn't say anything. Honestly, she doesn't seem surprised. She must have understood our intentions from the beginning. Perhaps this was like a test to her. I wonder if I passed.

"Alright children. Follow me," she says, walking towards an old-looking building.

As I follow her, I take time to look at my surroundings. Over all, the abandoned look reminds me of the Academy. One large, concrete building sits in the middle of an empty lot. A barbed wire fence closes off the perimeter. The ground lacks grass, instead being covered by pale gray asphalt. A single bird stands on the ground, pecking at a crumb. He doesn't seem to notice us as we walk past.

"Baran?" Selinda whispers. "This place is kind of creepy."

Baran wraps an arm around her shoulder as they keep walking. "Don't worry Lin. Nothing's gonna happen to you."

A chill runs up my spine as we approach the building. As we get closer, a figure comes into view. The closer we get, the better I can see who it is. It's a woman, one who looks kind of young. Her hair is black and not long enough to touch her shoulders, and she wears a red jumpsuit. Lipstick a matching shade of red coats her lips. Those same lips are pulled into a confident smirk- this woman is better than us, and she knows it!

Excitement bubbles up in my chest. This must be the woman Jade and Roy wanted to meet so badly. Who else could it be? There's no one else here, and even if there was then surely no one else would be able to radiate such power!

Headmistress nods to her and stands beside her tensely. The woman's smirk gains something else to it. Malice, possibly? My bones feel cold as the woman's eyes scan over us, before finally nodding in approval. Headmistress seems relieved.

"Hello children," the woman says in a thick Russian accent. "Normally I would not have taken time out of my busy schedule for something like this, but for something like this I would gladly make an exception."

Headmistress nervously says, "Children, as I'm sure you're aware, this is Madame Rouge. She is one of the founding members of the Brotherhood of Evil, so make sure to be on your best behavior. We wouldn't want to make a bad impression, would we?"

I've never seen Headmistress look so nervous before. I wonder what could be bugging her.

"Yes children, you wouldn't. Especially if you want to join us when you grow up."

This catches my attention. Does this mean the HIVE really is a school for supervillains? It has to be. Nothing else would make sense, right?

Roy looks troubled. Jade looks scared. I feel neither of those things. If anything, I'm... interested?

"You see, the Brotherhood has some," Madame Rouge pauses, as though she has to think of how to word her next statement. "-future plans. Perhaps, we could use some new members."

Right as she says it, she looks me in the eyes. I feel my heart stop.

"However, without the important information your Headmistress has for us, we will not know. Hand it over, will you?" she asks, annoyance hiding in her accent.

Headmistress nods hurriedly. "Yes, of course. Sarah, the binder?"

Sarah, who must have been given the binder at some point after it was passed to the Headmistress, hands her the binder back. But before she can hand it over to Madame Rouge, something amazing happens.

In the blink of an eye a red blur runs past, taking the binder with him.

…..

I'm back! I intended to get this written sooner, but oh well. We're starting a new level of curriculum for school soon, and this lesson plan seems to have less essays (oh how I hate those things!), so fingers crossed? Anyways, buckle your seatbelts because this next chapter is going to be epic! At least, I think it's going to be. It's always cool when I think it out in my head, but honestly who knows how well it'll transfer to paper.

Anyways, thank you KF fan for following, roseangel21 for following and favoriting, bunastheallmightyone for following, and ChrisReniets for favoriting.

Reviews:

Silver-Infinite: Oh yes, I love that show (though I will admit it has gone downhill lately- at least Firestorm is coming back next episode even if it is probably just so they can have Ronnie put in his seasonly dying quota). Given that the HIVE was involved in Caitlin's origin story in the comics, I figured it wouldn't hurt to weave Killer Frost and Jinx's backstories together a bit. Young Justice is pretty great too- I can't wait for season 3!

MirIAmc: Thanks! I'm still trying to figure out if I'm better at writing first or third person, but for this story first person has worked really well!

Bdjc: Thank you :)

Quote of the day:

"As everyone knows, vomit is not an approved lubricant for engine systems." -Voltron

(I don't remember the name of the person who said it but oh well)

God bless!

~Spectrobes Princess