(This story is based on issues 16 and 17 of Teen Titans Spotlight rewritten to suit the animated version.)
Tether to the Past
"Is she okay?"
Jinx had never heard Kid Flash use such a soft voice. The way he breathed out his question made the hairs on her neck stand at attention. Her fingers traced up her forearm, watching Kid Flash peer down at his Titans Communicator in the middle of her flat in Jump City.
"To my recollection, I believe she is well." The rumbling voice of Thunder answered him, and when Jinx looked over Kid Flash's shoulder, she noted the beads of sweat dampening Thunder's brow. Hints of bandages were visible just underneath his metal helmet.
"And Dr. Damalis was taken down? No, no, what I wanna know is she's okay, right?" Kid Flash asked, his fingers curling around his communicator. Jinx noted his hand began to shake.
Thunder nodded. "Yes. My brother and I took care of Magenta as peacefully as we could. Dr. Damalis can no longer harm her."
Lightning's hand clapped on Thunder's shoulder, pushing him out of the way for his face to fill the small screen. As Thunder yelped, Lightning bellowed, "That is correct! We, Thunder and Lightning, expertly unwoven the mind-bending spell that devious wench had on her."
"Brainwashing," Jinx corrected, crossing her arms and leaning into Kid Flash who offered her a smile. "It's called brainwashing, Lightning. Also, I don't think any magic was involved in this case."
"As the green one says, tomato and tomato!" Lightning snorted and waved his hand, dismissing her input.
Thunder knocked Lightning out of the way, a sputtered grunt slipping through Lightning's teeth. An irritated crease kneaded into his brow. Glancing over at his twin, who was currently blowing him a raspberry, Thunder sighed and said, "Though,, Magenta asked for me to pass on a message to you."
Kid Flash's eyes widened, and he nodded, prompting Thunder to continue. Thunder said Magenta wanted to see Kid Flash even for a few minutes at Titans Tower where her evaluation was being held. His lips pressed together as he mulled over Thunder's report.
Jinx observed Kid Flash's expression, normally so confident, freeze with contemplation. She watched his lips crease into a thin line, and Thunder made an uncertain hum, evidently catching Kid Flash's hesitation, and wondered aloud if he should not have said anything. Before Lightning could snap at his twin, Jinx resolved to remain quiet as Kid Flash chuckled.
"Nah! it's all good. I'm glad you guys told me. Mind telling Robin I'll be dropping by to talk with her?" Kid Flash asked, all traces of worry wiped from his face like a wet cloth wiping through a dusty floor.
Thunder nodded. "Not at all. I will do so now."
"Thanks, big guy. I'll talk with you two soon."
Before Lightning could say anything else, Kid Flash ended their communication with a press of a button. He sighed, grasping his forehead and closing his eyes. He shook his head, mumbling that he should have known.
Jinx crossed her arms. "Hey, who is Magenta? Is she-?"
"Yeah, that's Francis Kane, my ex. We, heh, we grew up together." He streaked his fingers through his hair. "I tried helping her control her magnetism when she developed her powers, and we also dated for a bit before going our separate ways. She always tried getting help elsewhere since she wanted to live a normal life, but I guess even the renowned STAR Labs has some bad apples in there."
"Well, who would've guessed that STAR Labs was a little corrupt?" Jinx mumbled, resting her arms at her sides. "So, are you going now?"
"Wanna come with?" Kid Flash offered a bit too quickly for her liking.
Jinx frowned. "Why? It's never a good thing when exes meet."
Kid Flash shrugged. "Aw, come on, Jinx. She's only a little bit of the jealous type, but I'm pretty sure she's mellowed out from that whole brainwashing thing."
She rolled her eyes. He was a master of bouncing back from feeling blue. Jinx turned away, glancing at her dim flat and shook her head, saying, "You should go. She sounds like she really needs just you now."
Kid Flash's lips quirked and settled into a pensive line. He tossed his communicator in the air a few times, replying, "I know, but I think you should meet her, too. She's kind of like you."
His remark caught her interest. Jinx' eyes widened, and her head tilted. While her powers lied with bad luck, Jinx was certain magnetism couldn't cause similar effects. They were parallel, never meant to be intersected.
"See, Frankie had, uh, a bad incident. She lost her dad and brother in a car accident around the time her powers were getting stronger," Kid Flash said, and Jinx watched his eyes fog over in the throes of remembrance. "Her mom blamed her without any proof. Even though the weather conditions were bad, the road was narrow, and the speedometer had signs of speeding, she was blamed for it."
It felt as if someone was taking a needle and digging it into her hip as Kid Flash spoke. Jinx furrowed her brow, and she nodded, clearing her throat. She itched her cheek, a gesture that went unnoticed by Kid Flash as he checked his communicator.
She felt a light kinship with Frances. Knowing what it was like to be blamed for events beyond her control had become second nature to Jinx. It was like fate conspiring against her no matter what action she took to change the course of ruin. For a girl like Frances, who only faced misfortune because of her powers, Jinx numbly understood her pain.
She was bad luck, so she assumed good had never been an option. That way, Jinx kept digging herself deeper into villainy and disorder because it was her self-imposed ending. Frances, despite trying to be good, ended up with bad luck at every corner. Each time she tried something positive, negativity became the undeniable result.
"Oh, great! Robin just gave me the all clear to visit. Better shoot Thunder and Robin a quick thanks and…" Kid Flash's thumbs moved faster than Jinx could see as he typed on his communicator. "...bingo! All sent!"
"You know what? I'll go with you," Jinx announced, and Kid Flash grinned. "Might be nice to meet a regular person for once in this crazy life of ours."
Kid Flash beamed, and Jinx found her mouth forming into an awkward smile. She clutched Kid Flash's hands, nodding for him to go. He grinned, and a blinding gust of wind slammed into her body with the colors of the world shooting past her. Papers scattered, but that sound quickly became faint, replaced with Kid Flash's rapid feet pelting into the ground. She groaned, realizing she failed to lock her flat's door, but before she could vocalize her concern, she was in front of Titans Tower. When she looked to her left, Kid Flash skidded next to her holding her room key.
"I took care of it. I even picked up your diary pictures," he said, and she gasped, snatching the key away from him. "Your unicorn pictures are getting really good."
"Oh, shut up! Those are private."
"If they're on the floor, it's a private gallery," he teased, earning a light punch to his shoulder.
Robin greeted them when they entered. Jinx listened to the conversation between Robin and Kid Flash, keeping her head down and left hand on her right forearm. Dread still seeped into her when she stepped into Titans Tower. Her first encounter with them had been taking over the Tower, going as far as tearing through Raven's room and Robin's belongings. The former still had not fully forgiven her for stealing a couple ancient artifacts meant to dispel bad luck, but when Jinx raised her head, she caught eyes with Raven standing at the end of the hallway.
Raven inclined her head in greeting, which made the breath Jinx didn't realize she had been holding to be expelled. She tapped a number combination on the keypad beside her, prompting a door to slide open after it chimed. Stepping aside, Raven gestured for Robin to follow her and said Frances was in good health.
Kid Flash thanked them. Jinx offered a mute wave and followed Kid Flash inside, their smiles still foreign to her when she expected irritation for her presence. She kept her eyes on Kid Flash's backside, focusing on the bright yellow latex when Kid Flash hurried to a girl sitting on a medical cot.
Jinx swallowed and willed herself to look up. Her lips parted as she took in the sight of a frail, pale girl with blonde hair. The tips of her hair were dyed in a pale bubblegum pink, which made Jinx reach for a strand of her own upward locks. Her wide baby blue eyes gazed at Kid Flash as if he were an angel descending from the clouds. Instead of heroine outfit in eggshell white and pink, she wore a cotton, light blue hospital gown.
"Wally," Frances whispered, and Jinx tensed, the formality making her skin crawl, "you're really here."
"When Thunder and Lightning told me what happened, I had to come see you," Kid Flash said, and he reached down, embracing the shorter girl in a back-breaking hug.
Frances grimaced, and Jinx saw the flurry of bruises on her arms when she reached up to hold Kid Flash. Like a tight scarf, bandages wrapped around Frances' neck. Her skin, which Jinx assumed was normally a healthy hue, was faintly sallow under the fluorescent lights.
"Are you okay? I can't believe Dr. Damalis would use you like that," Kid Flash said when they parted. He grit down on his molars.
Frances chuckled. "Same. I'm just glad Thunder and Lightning stopped me before I could do some real havoc and-oh!" Her hand jerked upwards, nearlycovering her mouth when she noticed Jinx' shadow crossing her bed. Clearing her throat, Frances tilted her head. "I-I-sorry, I didn't see you there."
Jinx snorted, hoping she wasn't coming off as rude or snide. "Don't worry about it. You're the injured one here so you should get all the attention."
Kid Flash straightened and said, "Frankie, this is Jinx. She's-"
"-your girlfriend," Frances interjected, and to Jinx' surprise, her voice grew higher, pitched with excitement. She leaned forward, eyes sparkling. "I've seen so much of you on the late night news with Wally! You two really make a great team."
"Oh. Oh!" Jinx chuckled, lacing her fingers by her waist. Heat colored her cheeks. "Thanks. I'm, uh, still learning how to be a Titan. It's good to have a partner like Kid Flash to show me the ropes."
Frances nodded. "Yeah, same. Wally tried to get me to join the Teen Titans and even offered to help me train."
"I mean, I still think you'd make a great Titan, but it is what it is," Kid Flash said, shrugging.
Frances frowned, huffing, "Hey, Wally! Are you really saying that to me? What happened to the guy who had trouble balancing his homework and beating up bad guys? Huh? Huh?"
Kid Flash raised his hands, his grin stretching deeper into his cheeks. A wary laugh slipped past his teeth, and Frances continued jeering at him for his terrible management skills. He protested that he had gotten his life under control, promising he was working hard in both school and heroism. Frances rolled her eyes and snickered, prompting him to insist he was right.
Looking at them really was like watching old friends reconnect. Friendly bantering passed between them made the smile on Jinx' face ease out of stiffness. It was clear they still had strong ties to each other with the knot in the center as the depth of the childhood friendship.
For a brief moment, the students from the H.I.V.E crossed her thoughts. See-More, Gizmo, Mammoth, and the rest of the ensemble broke free from the locked treasure chest of her mind. The gnawing guilt of abandoning them ran wild, and she felt all of the blood in her body pool in her stomach, weighing her down as if drowning.
Kid Flash could easily return to Frances while she had no one. Certainly, she was a Titan but only because of him believing she could be better. Her old friends made no attempts to convince her in that regard, but maybe See-More had, but she wasn't sure. Her feelings towards her old comrades brought a fog over her vision, forcing her to race through reasons why she had to leave them.
Jinx squeezed her eyes shut and locked them away. She blinked away the fog and gazed at the shiny tiled floor. Right now, she had to focus on them. Losing herself in memories while meeting someone dear to Kid Flash, in her opinion, was selfish. She had her own problems that she needed to work out on her own.
"Are you okay?"
Frances' voice broke through Jinx' anxiety. Jinx flicked her head up, noting Frances' curious gaze while Kid Flash's eyes widened, his expression filled with growing concern. Managing a feeble chuckle, Jinx rubbed her neck.
"Sorry. I was just thinking about some past...people I once knew. I haven't been in touch with them in a while." Jinx shrugged and grinned. "Anyway, I'm glad you're okay. Um, can I call you Frances or should I call you Magenta?"
"Frances is my name. Magenta is just…" Frances sighed. "Magenta is my past now, but if you want, you can also call me Frankie like Wally. I don't mind."
"So familiar," Jinx teased, coming closer to her bed, and she set her hip next to the cot. "How familiar were you two?"
"Oh, I have lots of stories about him." Frances shot the startled speedster a knowing glance, one that Jinx eagerly matched.
Kid Flash cleared his throat and shook his head. "H-hold on, hold on. Uh, I don't like where this is going."
"Well, well, so do I. I have lots of oddities and mishaps to share," Jinx proclaimed, overpowering Kid Flash's flustered retort. Rubbing her hands together, she snickered in a way that reminded her of her days at the H.I.V.E. "Shall I start?"
Frances laughed, leaning forward and clutching Jinx' hands. "By all means! Let's roast Wally!"
"Jinx! Frankie! Stop! Don't! Please!" Kid Flash cried, but the girls laughed, eagerly exchanging stories about his tumultuous, embarrassing past. His screams were heard for miles, and even up in the clouds, Thunder and Lightning could've sworn they heard Kid Flash's wispy wails.