11/12/17

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Cursed

Chapter Twenty-One: A Two Way Street

….

September 26, 2008

Large trucks must be Headmistress's favorite form of transportation, because we end up taking one to get to this field trip as well. I spent the entire ride looking over maps of the perimeter with Baran and Mikron by the light of a flashlight. Despite Mikron's earlier protests, he was surprisingly eager to follow my suggestions, and we soon had a concrete plan to aid the HIVE agents in their quest. When the truck was parked, we all climbed out and split up, going to our various posts. For Baran and Mikron, that meant starting on the north and east side of the building respectively. For me, it meant starting west.

Which means I inevitably chose the most difficult side. While most of the building is surrounded by concrete structures, the west side has grown what I can only describe as a small jungle in my absence. Which is odd, since plants usually can't grow that fast, but I guess it's not impossible. They probably have a student who can control plants or something. But whatever, it's cool. As the leader, I should get to start with the most difficult side. And after that I'll get to move on to the south side, which is the clearest side with little to no places for any student guards to hide. After I get through all this leafy vegetation crap, this mission should be a piece of cake.

And it is. I end up making a few rounds around the building without running into any student guards or Baran and Mikron. The latter is good, since it means there weren't any complications with them. Our plan is to move in a counter clockwise circle around the building, and then when we reach our beginning point we switch to a clockwise rotation, and so on. However, I begin to feel slightly concerned that I haven't seen any student guards yet. If that saw me, then yeah of course we'd have a problem. But if I'm not seeing them, then what does that mean. Have Baran and Mikron seen any? It's not like I have a way to ask them.

Suddenly, because I'm the luckiest girl in the world, I trip over a wire, thus springing a trap. Before I can so much as blink, I've been swooped up into a large net dangling from a tree. I let out a loud scream and start furiously pulling at the thread, but none of that stupid stuff is coming loose! I start panicking. What's going to happen to me now? Will the student guards find me before my own teammates can? What if no one finds me at all? And even if someone I know does find me, does this mean I fail?

I hear the sound of footsteps and tense up. A little girl with short brown hair cautiously tiptoes around the corner of the building. Her attire's color scheme catches my attention. Her jumpsuit's main colors, pastel yellow and mint green, look rather nice together, but don't do much for her as far as blending in goes. While by no means fluorescent, it's almost as if she chose colors that would deliberately make it easy to pick her out in a crowd. Her wide blue eyes meet mine, and her face lights up like a Christmas tree.

"Speedy! Speedy, c'mere!" she yells, jumping up and down.

Immediately, a young boy dressed in red runs around the corner holding a bow, arrow notched and ready to shoot. Frantically he looks around before lowering his bow. His mask does little to hide the fact that he's scowling.

"Tula! How many times have I told you to be quiet unless it's an emergency?"

The girl crosses her arms. "Well now that you've mentioned it, you've never told me that. You've implied it with sarcasm, but you've never actually said it. But look in that tree! One of those kids fell into their own trap!"

Speedy looks at me, and for some reason seems shocked.

"Good work Aquagirl. Go see if you can find Superboy. I'm… sure he could use some company."

The girl sighs, rubbing her arm. "I don't know. He acted like he wanted to be left alone. I'm surprised he even felt like coming."

Speedy puts a hand on her shoulder. "Which is why someone needs to keep an eye on him. The League already lost one sidekick. We don't need to lose two."

She nods her head and pulls him into a hug, which he returns. Aquagirl then pulls away and scampers off, leaving me alone with Speedy.

"Need a hand Mallory?"

I narrow my eyes. "How do you know my name?"

Speedy grins, taking off his mask. I gasp, falling backwards in the net.

"Roy?"

"In the flesh," he says, putting the mask back on.

I still can't get over the shock. "What are you doing here?" I ask as he cuts down the net with the tip of an arrow. Guess I know his "superpower" now.

"Same reason I was spying on the HIVE. Darkway Prep has a file that doesn't belong to them, so we're getting it back," Roy says, helping me down.

Oops. This could mean trouble.

"Define we."

Roy looks nervous. "Well, me obviously. Then there's Aquagirl, Superboy, and… nope, that's it actually. Just the three of us."

"And does the Justice League know you're here?" I ask.

Roy sighs, shaking his head. "No, they don't. It's just… they've been going through a rough time. Martian Manhunter especially, with what happened to Mars and all. He's been really stressed over this so we thought maybe if we could get this file back, maybe Manhunter could sleep a little easier."

I nod my head, leaning against a tree. I wasn't told about something happening to Mars, but I don't think Roy has a reason to lie.

"Are you still with the HIVE?" Roy asks. I nod my head, and it's hard to miss how concerned he looks at that answer. "I hate to pry but..."

He stops, looking into the distance. I follow his gaze to a group of bushes and see a bit of movement, but then everything is still.

"What were you saying?" I ask.

"Do you really think you can trust them?" Roy asks.

I frown. "Trust who?"

"The HIVE. Has HIVE Queen ever really given you a reason to trust her?"

HIVE Queen. I think I remember someone on the Justice League calling Headmistress that on the day we fought. That must be what those who aren't lucky enough to know her like I do call her. But Roy has a point. If what I saw earlier tonight at the meeting was any indication, has Headmistress been lying to me about who she really is and what her intentions are? Could I just be a pawn to her? Does she really care?

Before I can wonder any longer, someone jumps out of the bushes and hits us with a beam of ice.

…

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

Hi again! NaNoWriMo isn't going so great for me, but I'm doing much better than I was last year and that's what counts. In other news, I'm super excited for the Justice League movie coming out this week! I'm not expecting it to be a masterpiece though, to be honest, but as long as it's better than Batman v Superman I'll still leave the theater a happy DC fan. Is anyone else planning on seeing it?

Reviews:

Cliche Girl- Thanks! It's like Kid Flash said, there's still definitely some good in Jinx. There will be a time skip coming up in a few chapters, and a chapter or two after the time skip will be when the HIVE meets the Titans. I'm looking forward to writing it!

Guest- Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story!

Silver-Infinite- Honestly that's one of the things I love so much about being in a fandom with so much source material. In other fandoms there's only so much trivia about the material to learn, but with Teen Titans you can be a fan for years and still learn something new. It's even better when you learn it from a fanfiction! :)

Quote of the day!

"I tried to start a revolution, but I didn't print enough pamphlets so hardly anyone turned up. Except for my mum and her boyfriend, who I hate." -Korg, Thor: Ragnarok

May the odds be ever in your favor,

~Spectrobes Princess