Chapter Six
The first thing Harry noticed when he regained consciousness was that he was lying on a soft mattress; as he slowly rose into a sitting position, Harry noticed the second thing being that he was in a small room with someone leaning against the far wall watching him.
"Are…..are you Batman?" Harry asked warily as he took in the watcher's appearance; the stranger wore an outfit similar to Harry's hero, albeit with subtle differences, such as red eyes and no symbol on his chest.
The stranger's eyes widened slightly at the question before he seemed to regain control of himself, and his expression turned neutral again; with a slight shake of his head, the stranger indicated that he was NOT, in fact, Harry's hero and the boy seemed to shrink in on himself.
"Are you going to hurt me?" Harry asked in a whimper; the stranger's head tilted slightly at the question as though unsure of how to answer it before giving another shake of his head that made Harry feel a little less afraid.
The stranger suddenly rose from his leaning position and approached the door, casting one last look at Harry before opening it and exiting, leaving Harry alone in the dark.
For a moment, Harry simply sat on the bed, hugging his legs to his chest as he struggled not to cry; he should have known that freaks like him would never be allowed to be happy; he had been for a little while, he had had his sister back and was finally away from the abuse of his relatives, but then it was all taken away, just like it always was.
Forcing himself to take a deep breath, Harry slowly looked up from his knees and took in his surroundings; despite the darkness, Harry could see that he was in a small room with only one door on the far end of the room, across from him; the bed he was sitting on was the only piece of furniture in the room, making it seem empty to Harry's eyes.
A moment later, the door to Harry's room burst open, and the lights came on, making Harry violently flinch before gripping his knees tighter as six people walked into his room. The first three, Harry recognized as the ones who had kidnapped him; the fourth was the one Harry had mistaken as Batman, but the last two were complete strangers, and Harry's eyes widened slightly as he took in their appearance.
One had dark brown skin and wore a white and green unitard with an eye on the chest and seemed to be wearing a green helmet that held a single eye; the other was white and was wearing a dark red unitard with a division symbol on the chest.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty," the one with the one-eyed helmet chirped, "Took you long enough to wake up; we were getting bored."
"And you wouldn't like us when we're bored, kid," the red-suited stranger added in a deep southern accent, "People tend to get hurt when we're bored."
Harry seemed to shrink under the words and hugged his knees tighter as he started to shake under the gaze of the six strangers,
"P…please," Harry whimpered, "Please d..don't hurt me, I'll be good, I promise."
The strangers seemed to shift uncomfortably at the words and seemed to not know what to say until the pink-haired lady approached Harry slowly and kneeled down so that she was looking Harry in the eye,
"What's your name, kid?"
"H…Harry, ma'am," Harry said softly, trying desperately not to show how afraid he was,
"Harry…." The girl said back, as though testing the name on her tongue, "It's a good name, my name's Jinx. No one here will hurt you, Harry, as long as you do as you're told, understand?"
"Yeah, we don't want some snot-nosed brat!" Gizmo replied angrily, "We're after a much bigger game!"
Jinx turned and threw Gizmo a stern look that made the boy instantly shut up as Harry remembered what they had said before he passed out,
"You want to hurt my sister…." Harry breathed,
"Well, not just her," the one-eyed boy laughed,
"Why?" Harry asked,
"Because those jerks don't know how to keep their noses out of other people's business," the red unitard man replied with a grin, "All we want to do is make a dishonest living, and they keep interfering."
"You're bad guys…." Harry said quickly, "Raven is a hero, and she fights bad guys like you!"
Gizmo's face turned hard at Harry's words, and Mammoth growled, making Harry scuttle back in sudden fear until his back hit the wall behind him."
"That's enough!" Jinx growled, standing up and turning to face her companions, "Leave the kid alone! In case you morons have forgotten, we need him in one piece to lure the Titans here."
"The brat has a mouth on him," Mammoth growled, "Someone needs to teach him some respect,"
"Yeah," Gizmo added, "And I bet the Titan jerks will come running if we send an ear to them!"
Harry let out a whimper of fear at that, and tears began to slowly slide down his cheeks as his hand clamped down over his ears,
"Hey, wait a minute!" the red unitard man said quickly, "No one said anything about cutting up kids! So if that's the game, I'm out!"
"Me too!" The one-eyed stranger added, "Robbing and general mayhem is one thing, but I ain't about to start chopping kid's ears off."
"No one is chopping off anything!" Jinx snarled, "No one is to touch the kid without my express permission, is that understood?"
"Who put you in charge?!" Gizmo retorted, glaring at Jinx in impudent rage,
"You really want to test me, Gizmo?" Jinx asked in a deadly whisper that made Gizmo pale slightly,
"No…." Gizmo replied in a tight voice as his gaze swept to the floor.
Turning back to Harry, Jinx looked down at the scared boy and crossed her arms over her chest,
"As I said, Harry, no one will hurt you if you don't cause any trouble, okay?"
"W….who are you people?" Harry asked, flinching as he did so, memories of what happened when he asked questions with the Dursley's reemerging, despite his attempt to block them out.
"We're the Hive-Five," Jinx said proudly, "Mammoth and Gizmo, you already know. The other three are See-more," the one-eyed boy nodded his head at Harry, "Billy Numerous," the red unitard boy smiled and cocked his head, "And finally, Kyd Wykkd," the boy that Harry had mistaken for Batman simply stared at Harry in silence.
"But…." Harry said slowly as his eyes moved over the people in front of him,
"But what?" Jinx asked, bemused,
"But there are six of you; if you're the Hive-Five, shouldn't there be only five?"
The corners of Jinx's mouth twitched for a moment as though she was fighting the urge to smile,
"You're not the first to notice that," Jinx said simply,
"Hive Five sounds better," Mammoth replied, as though that solved everything.
Before Harry could respond, Jinx spoke up again, cutting him off,
"As long as you behave and don't cause trouble, I promise that no harm will come to you; with any luck, you'll be out of here in a few days, okay?"
"Please…." Harry whimpered, "Please don't hurt the Titans. They're the only ones who have ever been nice to me."
"Sorry, kid," See-more replied with a slight grin, "But they're heroes, and we're not. That's just the way it goes."
Jinx stared down at Harry in thought for a moment before shaking her head slowly,
"Sorry, Harry, but See-more is right, the Titans have stuck their noses into our business for too long, and now it's payback."
Harry whimpered again and buried his face between his knees as the Hive-Five watched silently,
"You'll be watched every minute to ensure you don't try anything, like trying to escape," Jinx said softly, trying to fight against the guilty feeling churning in her stomach. "And if you even think about using your magic, you'll be punished, understood?"
"I know…." Harry's voice mumbled out from where his face was buried between his knees, "I remember the rules."
"Rules?" Jinx asked, bemused, "What rules?"
"The rules my Aunt and Uncle told me," Harry sniffled, raising his face to look at Jinx, "No freaky stuff, or I'll get beaten…."
The room seemed to drop twenty degrees as the Hive-Five processed what Harry had just said,
"Your Aunt and Uncle used to beat you for using your powers?" Billy Numerous asked in a small voice; Harry nodded slowly, and Billy paled in shock before turning to Jinx, who looked at Harry in horror.
"What about your parents, kid?" See-more asked, his usual smile gone from his face,
"Don't got any…." Harry responded with a sniffle, "Aunt Petunia said my daddy got drunk one night and crashed our car; that's how my parents died, and I got this ugly scar on my forehead. No one else would take in a freak like me, so my Aunt and Uncle were forced to."
Upon hearing the words, Jinx felt the guilt increase, and she slowly made her way to Harry, who had frozen in fear, and gently pushed aside his bangs to see said scar; when she did so, her eyes widened in shock at what she was seeing,
"Harry Potter…." Jinx breathed, not daring to believe it, "You're Harry Potter!"
Harry nodded his head slowly, bemused as to why Jinx suddenly seemed so shocked.
"Who the heck is Harry Potter?" Gizmo asked in annoyance, "And why do you seem so shocked about the little crud-muncher?"
For a moment, Jinx said nothing, her mind racing at the implications of having Harry Potter in her hideout; memories of a time long past began to surface, memories of before she became 'Jinx.'
Memories of before she had been expelled from Hogwarts, when Jinx had been a Slytherin, not the best place for a Muggle-born, but she had thoroughly enjoyed learning about magic, despite her housemates' contempt for her.
Jinx had learned the story of Harry Potter and how he had defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort so long ago, whilst at Hogwarts, though she never expected to ever meet the boy who had saved the Wizarding World.
One day, in her second year, whilst on her way to class, Jinx was attacked by a group of pure-blood upper-classmen who didn't think she belonged at Hogwarts, let alone in their illustrious house. That was when Jinx had first discovered her abilities. The end result was that all four of her attackers were given such horrific injuries that all four had to be immediately sent to St. Mungo's; it was later revealed that one of them would never walk again.
Despite Jinx's repeated excuse that she was attacked and didn't mean to hurt the boys so badly, she only meant to defend herself, she was summarily expelled from Hogwarts, and her wand was snapped.
Dumbledore could have saved her if he had spoken in her defense after seeing her memories of the attack. But instead, he had decided that Jinx's abilities were 'dark magic, too dangerous to be allowed in Hogwarts,' Jinx still felt the sting of that betrayal when she let the memories in.
Jinx's parents weren't much better; after hearing of her expulsion, they had all but disowned Jinx for losing the chance to be a part of the magical world. A few months of their treatment was enough for Jinx to decide to leave and never come back, changing her name and assuming a new one that would never be pushed around or hurt again; thus was born Jinx, the queen of misfortune.
"Harry Potter is a hero to magic folk…." Jinx said softly as she gazed at the lightning bolt scar as though it were something extraordinary, "He saved the magical world from the evilest wizard who ever lived,"
"I did?" Harry asked in shock as the others stared at the kid in surprise.
"You're telling me this brat did that?" Gizmo asked with a sneer, "There's no way!"
"Believe what you want, but it's common history what Harry Potter did," Jinx said as she finally moved her hand from Harry's head and stepped back.
The others stared at Harry as though they couldn't believe what Harry 'supposedly' had done, while Harry's mind raced at what he had heard. It was impossible, surely!
After another moment of silence, Jinx turned to See-more,
"See-more, you're on first watch. Keep an eye on the kid and make sure he doesn't try anything,"
"Go it, Jinx," See-more replied with a grin before staring down at the boy, who shuffled back nervously.
Jinx nodded before turning to leave, motioning for the others to follow; once back in her room, Jinx let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding; of all the people to get involved with, why did it have to be Harry frigging Potter.
She just hoped that she could get rid of the kid before any other wizards found out that she had kidnapped The-Boy-Who-Lived; the last thing she needed was to gain the attention of the magical world again.
But try as she might, Jinx couldn't get the look of pure terror that Harry had had out of her mind; Harry Potter was a hero; he should have been given the world on a golden platter, so why was he instead sent somewhere where he had been abused simply for showing his magic?
The more Jinx thought about it, the more she regretted taking the kid; sure, she might hate the Titans and Raven best of all, but the idea of further traumatizing the hero of the Wizarding World was something she found immensely unappealing.
XXXX
"Cyborg, please tell me that you've found something?" Raven begged as she suddenly appeared in Cyborg's room, making Cyborg and Robin jump slightly; it had been a week since Harry's abduction, and Raven seemed to grow more desperate with each passing day, no matter how much her teammates tried to assure her that Harry would be found soon.
"Same thing as yesterday, Rae," Cyborg replied wearily as he resumed typing something onto the keyboard of a rather large computer, "There's still no sighting of Hive; it's like they've vanished."
"Well, they have to be somewhere!" Raven exclaimed, "They can't have just disappeared into thin air!"
"Rae," Cyborg said consolingly, "I've set up an algorithm to check every camera in the city for Hive members; so far, it's seventy percent done. It won't be long until some camera somewhere spots them."
"How much longer until it's done?!" Raven demanded, worry evident on her face,
"I don't know," Cyborg replied softly, "There are more than thirty million cameras in this city. It will take a while for the algorithm to check them all. But, the fact that it's seventy percent done is, in itself, a miracle."
"HARRY NEEDS OUR HELP!" Raven snarled, her eyes flashing red for a moment, "EVERY MINUTE WE WASTE IS ANOTHER MINUTE WHERE I MIGHT LOSE THE ONLY FAMILY I HAVE LEFT!"
"RAVEN!" Robin called sternly, making Raven momentarily calm herself, "I know that you're worried. We all are! We all have grown fond of Harry; he is no less important to us than he is to you. But you cannot help him by losing control and going out there without a plan or even a location of where to start looking."
Raven bit her lip to stop the tears from coming as Robin's words hammered home like physical blows,
"We WILL find Harry," Robin said firmly, "And we will make those that took him pay for it, but we WILL do so according to the law; is that understood?"
Raven was silent for a moment as she glared at Robin; for a moment, it was a battle of wills before Raven gave a quick nod and vanished as her power enveloped her in a dark shadow, teleporting her away.
"We need to find Harry, quickly," Robin stated, turning back to the computer screen, "Her worry for Harry's safety is beginning to make her lose control."
"I hate to say it, man," Cyborg replied, "But do you think it's possible that Harry is even still alive? They've had him for a week and haven't made a single demand or any contact; how do we know they didn't just kill him?"
"Hive is a lot of things," Robin said softly, "But murderers aren't one of them; Harry's alive out there and needs our help."
"The algorithm is working at max output," Cyborg said, tapping a few keys, "We should have something soon,"
"Good," Robing said as he slapped Cyborg's shoulder, "Let me know when it does; then we can scope it out and make a plan."
"And what about Raven?" Cyborg asked warily, "Should she be allowed on this mission?"
"No…." Robin replied as he ran a hand over his face wearily, "She's too close to this; she should stay behind."
"You know she won't like that."
"Maybe not," Robin said, "But Raven is too emotional right now; if she loses control…."
"I know," Cyborg replied darkly.
Without another word, Robin turned and made his way out of the room as Cyborg turned back to the screen; neither of them was aware of the dark shadow in the corner of the room that had been listening to the entire conversation.
XXXX
Harry started awake when the door to his 'room' was suddenly banged open; before he could put on his glasses to see who it was, the stranger had placed something on the floor by Harry's bed and quickly made their way back out the door, slamming it shut behind them.
When Harry had finally managed to extricate himself from the confines of his blanket and place his glasses onto his face, he discovered that a plate of eggs and toast had been placed on the floor. With a sigh, Harry carefully picked up his breakfast and sat back down on his bed, resting the plate on his lap.
For the past week, Harry's life had become one of solitude and routine; at first, one of Hive would sit in the room with him and watch him. Most had watched Harry with a mixture of pity for what he had endured at the hands of his relatives and disbelief at what Jinx had told them Harry had 'supposedly' done. But after Harry had accidentally summoned his 'protectors' and sent Billy Numerous crashing hard into the wall when he came too close, Hive decided to stand guard outside his door rather than remain inside and risk Harry's abilities harming them. The looks he received, then, became full of fear and loathing.
Only Jinx seemed unafraid of Harry and would come and talk with Harry occasionally; the oddest thing, at least to Harry anyway, was that she seemed to be genuinely interested in him, asking all manner of questions about Harry's life and seemingly angered when Harry would tell her about the abuse he received from his relatives.
To his surprise, Harry found that he had actually grown fond of Jinx; she was the only one who seemed friendly to him, unlike the others who seemed to view Harry as though he were some dangerous weapon that might go off at any moment; Jinx's eyes seemed to be both troubled and kind when she looked at Harry, as though she was waging some internal battle with herself over Harry.
Harry had just finished his breakfast when the door banged open again, and Jinx came in, making Harry break out in a smile,
"Good morning, Ms. Jinx!" Harry cried excitedly as he jumped up from the bed,
"Good morning, Harry," Jinx replied with a slight grin, "I thought I told you to just call me Jinx."
Harry grinned sheepishly and shuffled his feet as he replied,
"Sorry, Jinx,"
Jinx shook her head in exasperation for a moment before gently ruffling Harry's hair, making the boy giggle softly.
"Hey, Jinx," Harry asked sheepishly, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, Harry," Jinx replied as she sat down next to the boy, "What's up?"
"Why do you hate my sister so much?"
Jinx's face fell for a moment, and Harry flinched as he thought that he may have crossed a line and would be punished for it when Jinx suddenly spoke again in a soft voice,
"I guess it's because of how people look at her…."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, bemused,
"Raven and I are alike in that we both grew up in a world surrounded by magic," Jinx stated, "But that is where our similarities end; she is lauded as a hero for her abilities, whereas I am looked at like a villain because of mine. I'm the queen of misfortune, only able to bring bad luck to others. I guess the reason I hate her so much is because a small part of me wonders what it would be like to be celebrated for my powers, instead of hated, to be like Raven and the other Titans."
"You're not a villain, Jinx," Harry replied in a small voice, "You're not mean to me like the others are, and your eyes show me the truth."
"What are you talking about?" Jinx asked,
"Your eyes are kind, like my sisters," Harry answered, making Jinx's eyes widen slightly, "It's just…you seem like me, you've been punished for your powers like I was by my aunt and uncle, and that made you want to be mean to others, but I think that if you wanted to be a hero, you could be a great one like Raven is."
For a moment, Jinx was rendered speechless, and a single tear slid down her cheek before she seemed to regain control of herself; and she quickly wiped her face as she rose to her feet.
"You're just some snot-nosed kid," Jinx retorted, "What do you know about me?!"
"I know that you could have been mean to me like the others are," Harry said simply, "Instead, you chose to be nice to me because you're not as bad as you claim to be."
Jinx sneered at Harry, even as her emotions were in turmoil from the boy's words,
"You know nothing!" Jinx sneered, "I'm the queen of misfortune! I'm as bad as you can get! You think I want to give all that up to be some hero?! If you truly believe that, then you really are a stupid little brat!"
Tears began to run down Harry's cheeks at Jinx's words, and guilt ripped through the girl as she saw them; biting her lip hard, Jinx turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door hard behind her, the last thing that she heard before the door closed was Harry's pitiful sobs which seemed to magnify her guilt for speaking to him as she had.
For a few moments, Jinx stood outside Harry's door, breathing hard as she tried to push away the emotions that were threatening her self-control,
"You're growing soft…." A voice next to her said suddenly, making her jump, "That kid is a bad influence on you. We need to get rid of him."
Jinx's eyes turned hard at the accusation as she gazed down at Gizmo, who was staring at her with barely concealed contempt.
"I am NOT going soft," Jinx growled back, "And that kid is the only bargaining chip we have to lure the Titans into our trap; instead of questioning my judgment, perhaps you should concentrate on ensuring we are the ones left standing once the Titans show up."
For a moment, Gizmo and Jinx simply stared at one another in a silent battle of wills before Gizmo, at last, looked away contemptuously, and Jinx smiled in victory,
"So, how go the preparations?" Jinx asked,
"I'm almost done," Gizmo replied, "Another few days and everything will be prepared, and then we can move the kid to the warehouse to act as bait."
"Then why are you standing here talking to me?" Jinx asked with a sneer, "Get back to work!"
Gizmo glared at Jinx for a moment more before turning and stalking down the hallway, mumbling darkly under his breath.
As Jinx turned to make her way to her own room, her thoughts were in turmoil; try as she did to deny it, Harry's words had had an effect on her, and for the first time in her life, she did not know what to do. She wanted to defeat the Titans simply because once they were all gone, the city would be hers to rule, and for the first time in her life, she would finally get the respect she felt she deserved. But, on the other hand, Harry was right; she often wondered what it would be to be looked upon by people and not see fear in their eyes but rather see respect and admiration. As Jinx's thoughts warred uncontrollably, she let out a breath she didn't realize that she was holding; it would all be over in a few days once the Titans were gone, then she would be the ruler of Jump City and never have to worry about these thoughts invading her peace ever again.
XXXX
Alarms were flashing throughout the tower when Robin ran into Cyborg's room, followed closely by Starfire and Beastboy;
"What's going on?!" Robin demanded as he stopped next to Cyborg,
"The cameras finally got a hit!" Cyborg replied as he began typing something onto the keyboard in front of him.
"Did it find Harry?" Starfire asked anxiously, taking a step forward,
"They picked up Mammoth entering this building less than twenty-four hours ago," Cyborg replied as an image of the Hive member appeared, showing him entering a dilapidated building that looked as though it might collapse any moment.
"Then, what are we waiting for?!" Beastboy demanded, "Let's go get Harry back!"
"No!" Robin stated, "We have no idea if it's a trap or not, so until we have more information that we can act on, we must tread carefully!"
"You want us to wait?!" Beastboy asked in shock, "Harry's been with them for a week! Who knows what they've done to him! He needs us now!"
"And what good are we to him if we walk into a trap?!" Robin demanded, "We cannot save Harry if we're all dead!"
Beastboy opened his mouth to respond before thinking better of it and shutting it closed with a snap,
"We will rescue Harry," Robin said quickly, "But only when we have enough information to mount a proper rescue without the risk of injury to Harry or us."
The others nodded their heads sullenly when a shadow that had been hiding in the corner suddenly moved forward, drawing their attention. As they watched, wide-eyed, the shadow began to shift until it took on the form of an outraged-looking Raven, whose eyes glowed dark red with rage.
"Raven…." Robin breathed, trying to think of what to say,
"You want me to wait?" Raven asked in a deadly whisper that seemed to echo in the quiet room, "You want me to wait while my little brother is being tortured by those bastards?!"
"Raven, we will get him back, I promise!" Robin said quickly, "But we cannot just charge in without a plan! We need to wait until-"
"I'M NOT WAITING!" Raven roared angrily as her powers began to envelop her,
"Raven! Wait!" Robin called out impudently; a moment later, she was gone, and Robin sighed annoyance.
"What do we do?" Starfire asked quickly, making Robin grimace,
"We go after her and try to stop her from doing something she'll regret!" Cyborg responded quickly as he rose from his chair and moved towards the door.
"Agreed," Robin added, "TITANS MOVE!"
XXXX
Author's Note:
I know a lot of you are going to be pissed about how I ended this chapter, but the battle I have planned out would have made this chapter unbelievably long, and I didn't want to make it so long that it became hard to read; so I chose to end it here. The next chapter will have the battle you all have been longing for.
NEXT TIME ON DRAGONBALL Z!
Oops, my bad, wrong show, lol.