FicWad

Teen Titans season 6 episode 6
Speed of Light.
Starfire stood on the top of Titans Tower firmly on the black pavement used for playing basketball, firmly grasping her staff. With an eager breath, she turned to her sparring partner Donna aka Wonder Girl. She too, was wielding a staff, but with a more confident posture. Worried, Starfire turned to Nightwing who was stoic, observing the two’s training session, arms folded with a stern expression on his face. She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Opening them Starfire locked her eyes on Wonder Girl. “You sure about this, Wonder Girl?” asked Starfire. Wonder Girl grinned. “Come one, Star! I can handle this! I feel it in my bones!” Starfire shrugged in response and held her staff in combat position. “All right!” announced Nightwing. “You know the rules, girls: first one to have all four limbs on the ground loses. And flying counts as cheating.” he added. Starfire rolled her eyes as she prepared for the sparring. “Ok, I’m ready.” she informed Wonder Girl. The two stared each other down with confident grins on their faces. Seeing that the 2 were prepared, Nightwing nodded the Ok to begin. The two began to trade hits with their bo sticks and their incredible agility. They spared for quite a few minutes, sweat coming down from each other’s faces and their skills greatly improving. After a while, Starfire ended up the victor, bringing her staff towards Wonder Girl’s feet and yanking it, flooring her to the ground. Starfire approached her fallen sparring partner with a look of concern over striking Wonder Girl down. “Sorry! Did I hurt you, Donna?” she asked. Wonder Girl just laughed. “I’m fine, Starfire!” she finally said. Starfire grinned and held out her hand to help her friend up. “I gotta keep working on my sparring don’t I?” she asked. Starfire shook her head. “You did great! You definitely put up a good fight. Right, Nightwing?”. Nightwing nodded his head in agreement. Wonder Girl grabbed Starfire’s hand and was hoisted to her feet. The 2 bowed down to each other honorably and followed Nightwing back into the tower. As they descended the staircase, Starfire caught up to Nightwing, while they approached the main lounge. “Nightwing, I’ve been thinking.” she explained. “Slade obviously knows where the Tower is, since he attacked it when trying to kidnap Raven for Trigon, so why doesn’t he just lead an invasion on us?”. Nightwing looked at her, still with the same stoic expression. “I wish I knew, Starfire. Slade’s a complicated man. If he hasn’t attacked us now, he must have something bigger up his sleeve. Much bigger.” Starfire turned back to the floor in regards to that statement. She was scared. Even moreso considering her sister was now one of Slade’s henchmen. Starfire had looked up to her older sister for years before her enslavement. Her sister used to compliment her and praise her attributes when it counted. Now, she had become a monster that resented her only family for no other reason than she wasn’t granted the throne of Tamaran. Perhaps this was something to discuss with Dick, she thought to herself as she and Wonder Girl sat on the couch to relax from their session. But before she could ask, Nightwing was already approaching the elevator. “I’m going to check on the others training outside. We’ll take 5 for now.” he said. Starfire nodded as the elevator closed to block Nightwing from her view. Wiping her sweat off with a towel, Wonder Girl noticed Starfire’s distressed expression. “Anything you wanna chat about, Kori?” she asked. Starfire winced a smile and folded her arms. “ Sometime maybe but not today.”


Cyborg set the controls to the training on the “average” setting. He knew Raven and Beast Boy had plenty of experience from their previous training there, but since Kid Flash had only been a member for a year and a half, he decided to give him a little leverage here. For the exercise he had the 3 of them positioned at one end of the course, with the plan being to fight through the obstacles to the imaginary finish line. For the obstacles he had planned, Cyborg had set up the disc launchers and the lasers for his team’s trial. Looking over his control panel, he noticed the team preparing for the course. Even Beast Boy seemed to be now in good spirits, despite his recent loss. The expression put a smile on Cyborg’s face. He finished prepping the set up and then turned his attention to his teammates. “Ok, Ready! Set! Go!” he bellowed and the trio below charged into the course. For the first obstacle, a group of metal disc launchers emerged from the ground and started launching multiple projectiles at its targets. Cyborg’s eyes darted back and forth as he tried to keep track of his teammate's strategies. For Beast Boy, he turned into a mouse and avoided all the hits as he scurried across the ground. For Raven, she made an energy field around her and the bullets and missiles all but bounced off the field. The ammunition ricocheted harmlessly to the ground before exploding. To keep the explosion from getting everywhere, she used energy fields to contain the explosion. For Kid Flash, he ran quickly and dodged as much ammunition as possible. He was sweating profusely through the fire. Not from the heat though, but through his more mental struggles. Upon escaping the labyrinth, Cyborg hit them with the next obstacle: In front of the 3 was a series metal fists hidden in the ground, to test the trainee’s ability to dodge obstacles that come from beneath. The 3 Titans each dodged them in their own unique ways: Beast Boy turned himself into a kangaroo and jumped over all the fists at a tremendous height, Raven conjured a portal to teleport herself from one end to the other. Kid Flash hopped on each one, one at a time at super quick speed until landing on the last fist. The fist quickly launched him into the air before he landed on his feet successfully. For the final obstacle, a series of walls were laid in front of the 3 and the point was to get through them before the doors closed. After that the finish line would be straight ahead of them. The 3 doors started sliding down as fast as the blades of a gillatein. Beast Boy went first, turning himself into a mouse and quickly running under the door as it closed. The door then lifted up again, for another go at ducking before it closed again. Raven’s move was to teleport herself on to the other side of each wall. Showoff, Kid Flash thought to himself. After the walls, they’d make it to the finish line. Kid Flash was very confident that he’d make it, due to his fast abilities. He dodged the first door with ease as well as the second door. As he approached the 3rd one though, he felt off. His mind was still on what Jinx had said in their last battle. From what Kid Flash remembered, she had apparently asked him to save her. He didn’t understand it then, nor did he now. The thought was pressing so hard on his mind, he felt his agility slow. Suddenly, his legs gave out and the momentum sent him hurling towards the wall. Seeing the metal barrier getting closer, Kid-Flash quickly twisted his body to allow his back to take a majority of the brunt of the impact. The pain wasn’t too bad. At least not physically. Emotionally, he hurt all over. His body felt worse as soon as he hit the ground. Suddenly, blackness was the only thing he saw.


When Jinx had woken up, she had thought she had a nightmare. It was of her ex comrades forcing her to work for a bad man named Slade and be forced to hurt the one she loved. Looking around the room, she was now reminded that it was no dream: it was but a bad memory. And sadly it lived on. Leaning out of her bed, she walked into the main dungeon of H.I.V.E headquarters where Slade was conducting the rest of his brotherhood of evil. Looking around the room, Jinx noticed the area where the desks were during Brother Blood or the H.I.V.E headmistress would commentate to the H.I.V.E member were now cleared out and instead were about a dozen or so crates being loaded in by Billy Numerous and his multiple clones. Each crate was marked with the word “Classified” in big bright red letters. One of numerous’s clones turned to Jinx and pointed at her as if he had seen a rabid squirrel. “Hey, Billys! Look! The traitor who got our hides locked up and frozen is here!” The clones dropped the crates and turned towards Jinx’s direction. “Let’s get, er!”. The clones started charging towards Jinx at max speed. Bracing herself for attack, Jinx charged up her mystical energy charge from within. Before she could unleash it on the clones, a line of fire erupted from the ground and stopped the clones in their tracks. Petrified by the oncoming elemental defense front, Jinx turned to the cause of the flames. Standing in front was the hulking figure of Slade Wilson, his hand held out wide to allow the flames to emerge in front of Jinx. Straightening up, Slade snapped his fingers and the flames vanished in an instant. “Jinx is not a threat to us, Numerous.” he explained dryly. “She has pledged her allegiance to us once more and she is not to be harmed. Unless of course, she misbehaves”. Numerous regrouped his clones before sneering at Jinx. She stuck her tongue out at him in return. Numerous huffed and grabbed one of the crates before pushing it into another chamber. Jinx was almost touched by Slade’s protectiveness there, until she remembered his true reasoning: if Numerous harmed her, he wouldn’t be able to have Gizmo keep her under their control. Slade obviously wanted her back to force her to fight her friends as torture and because he needed someone as powerful as Raven on his side. She would have loved nothing more than to just run when Slade wasn’t looking and go back into Wally’s arms, but then Gizmo would just press the trigger and end her happiness with the man she loved. She couldn’t allow that. So she had to play by Slade’s rules. Speaking of Gizmo, turning around she saw Gizmo walking out from Professor Chang’s chambers with a clipboard approaching Slade. Looking up at the masked man’s face, he gulped briefly before explaining his report. “ Me and Professor Chang, so far, have created at least 15 of our Ultra Sladebots, ready to be deployed at your command.” Slade bent over to face Gizmo eye to eye. Gizmo almost felt like wetting himself, seeing the towering figure bend down heavily to face him. “And the other 50 I requested?” he asked calmly. Gizmo looked down at the clipboard quickly and looked back at Slade. “We need more parts to continue our operation. There’s just not enough parts available at H.I.V.E headquarters.” he finished. Rising up, Slade turned to Billy Numerous before facing Gizmo again. “Then find more parts” he hissed. Gizmo raised his eyebrow in confusion at the demand. “Where?” he asked. “ Where do you expect me to find spare parts in this town?” In response, Slade turned his head towards the other end of the room. Following his gaze, Gizmo looked and saw a pair of giant doors open to reveal Brother Blood, flanked by Blackfire, entering holding a datapad in his hand. “ The answer to your question lies with S.T.A.R labs, my little bald friend,” Blood explained. Turning his datapad around, Gizmo slowly approached to get a closer look. On it, it showed records and times for delivery shipments for various S.T.A.R resources. Gizmo’s eyes darted up and down on the datapad until he found a delivery time that suited him. “Aha, a delivery to be made to S.T.A.R labs Metropolis is to be made this afternoon!” he exclaimed happily. “Shipment: promethium!” Jinx gulped upon that knowledge. Promethium was the same tech that Cyborg’s robotics were made from and that tech, she knew, mixed with Gizmo’s robots, would be incredibly dangerous to her old friends and the city. Excited of his new mission, Gizmo grabbed the datapad from Blood and walked to Mammoth and Slade. “Just give me a few moments to prepare my tech and your’e request shall be done, Slade!” The 2 bowed to each other and Gizmo walked with Mammoth jumping up and down as if Christmas had come early. Jinx just rolled her eyes. Seeing him get excited over little things like holding a trigger was just pathetic to her. Knowing her place at the moment, Jinx began to follow her comrades, until Gizmo turned around and frowned at her. “Where do you think you're going?” he sneered. Jinx raised her eyebrow in confusion. “What are you talking about? I thought I was to come with you to wherever you go or you will blow me away.” she retorted. Mammoth lashed his teeth at her before raising his fist. “Last time we fought the Titans at the water works, you hesitated when you saw him!” he snarled. Not sure of what to say, Jinx folded her arms and darted her eyes back to Gizmo and Mammoth, in a way as if to imply she doesn't know what they are referring to. “I blinded him so we could get out of there and back to Slade” she explained at last. “I did what you wanted me to do: I fought him so we can be together. Wasn’t that the whole reason you morons forced me into this in the first place?”. Then, suddenly, Mammoth quickly grabbed Jinx by the shirt and yanked her face towards him. “How dare you insult us! After all we did for you! We were your friends and you betrayed us! We give you another chance here, and you think you could talk to us like this?!” he growled loudly. Jinx still kept her face as stoic as she possibly could to prevent the two from seeing weakness within her. On the inside though, she was terrified at that point. Terrified of what they might do to her in this current position. Ugh, she thought. I don’t know what’s worse here: him threatening me or his breath. Mammoth raised his fist about to punch Jinx until Gizmo put his hand on his waist to stop him. “Hold on a sec, Mammoth. We still need her. Put her down.” Mammoth grunted begrudgingly and gently lowered Jinx to her feet. Still keeping her stoic expression, Jinx wiped the sweat from Mammoth’s massive hands off her blouse before folding her arms. Mammoth looked at Gizmo for directions. “Leave her with the Control Freak, Mammoth.” Gizmo ordered. “Give him a H.I.V.E mic. If she starts any funny business, he’ll let us know. Take her down to him.” Mammoth sadistically smiled at the order. Grabbing Jinx by the arm, he aggressively dragged her along with him to Control Freak’s hovel. As he dragged her, Jinx was thinking to herself how to take advantage of this opportunity of her 2 former H.I.V.E partner’s temporary departure to escape to Wally. This was her only chance.


It took him a few seconds, but Kid Flash managed to open his heavy eyelids for what felt like hours of unconsciousness. NExt to him were his fellow titans, awaiting his recovery. “Did I win?” he asked as he reached the back of his bruised head. Cyborg and Nightwing looked at each other concerned, while Beast Boy snickered under his breath. Raven, annoyed with Beast Boy’s insensitivity, used her magic to conjure up a black fist that pounded Beast Boy to the ground. “I’m sorry, Kid Flash, but no.” she responded calmly to Kid Flash. “You seem to have gotten distracted and you hit your head on the obstacle.” explained Cyborg. “I checked and it didn’t look like you had a serious concussion though” added Nightwing. Looking confused, Kid Flash slowly got out of the bed and onto his feet. “Yeah, sorry. It’s just that after our last fight at the water works, I’ve been kind of….well, slow.” He smiled weakly at his pun, but it faded when he realized it wasn’t funny. “How long was I out for?” he asked. “About an hour.” replied Beast Boy as he gripped the bed to support himself back up. “And for the record I won the challenge! Fastest dude in the tower!” Everyone except Kid Flash frowned at Beast Boy’s gloating. His face turned red with embarrassment. “Uh, I mean, glad you’re ok, dude!” he compensated. Raven just rolled her eyes and turned back to Kid Flash. “Look, Kid Flash, just ignore him.” she advised. “No it’s fine,” said Kid Flash. “He won fair and square and I commend him.” He quickly gave a thumbs up and started lumbering back to his room. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my room recovering.” Exiting the room, he walked through the main lounge and ascended down the hallway towards his room. He turned the door and entered the room, before slipping on the ground and landing heavily on his back. His back felt like a massive spike just pierced through his spine. Great, thought Kid Flash. My ex confuses me, I nearly get a head injury and now my back is in massive pain. How can this week get worse? He winced in pain for a few, but he then felt a soft squishy object on his chest. Opening his eyes, they came into contact with Starfire’s pet maggott Silky. The creature’s slime was seeping through Kid Flash’s suit onto his skin. Silky started licking his face as he sighed and rested his head on the ground in defeat. “Starfire!” he shouted. “Your pet is in my room again!” Luckily for Kid Flash, Starfire flew quickly into his room as opposed to walking in to quickly get Silky off of him. “Oh, I apologize, Kid Flash. I’m sure Silky didn’t mean to cause harm or distress towards you.” she explained stroking the maggot. Kid Flash helped himself off the ground and got back on his feet. Brushing the slime off himself, he turned to Starfire and sighed. “It’s fine, Starfire. I just… I just need some time for myself.” Starfire nodded with an empathetic expression on her face. As she was leaving the room, Kid Flash spoke again. “ Whose room was this again? Before I came?” he asked. Starfire, one hand on the knob and the other holding Silky, turned her head towards him, her eyebrows slumping. “It belonged to Terra. Ever since she had given her life for us, the room was left vacant until you joined us. Why?” “No reason,” he replied dryly. He then turned his back to her. Starfire knew that it was probably best to leave him alone for the moment and slowly closed his door. Before she closed it all the way, she said one last thing to him. “If you are in any distress, Kid Flash, please remember that your friends will be there for you” she finished before finally closing the door.

As soon as he knew the coast was clear, Kid Flash dug under his bed and dragged out a small box. Pulling it out he opened it to reveal 2 things within it: a little bracelet and a picture slide of him and Jinx at a mall photo booth. He remembered when he got them. About 6 months before he joined the Teen Titans, he and Jinx were celebrating their 2 month anniversary since the defeat of the Brotherhood of Evil and the start of their relationship. He and Jinx had finished getting their photstrips at the mall and were walking through the park for their date. When they had gotten to the bridge, the 2 lovers had exchanged gifts when Raven had appeared. She informed Kid Flash that the Titans west needed him for a special mission, so he apologized to Jinx for the temporary setback and went off to help his comrades. When he had returned back to the Titans East base after the ordeal, she was gone with only a note left. It said she had left, requested that he not try to find her and revealed she got rid of her titans communicator and stole anything that could lead to her. It was then he joined the western front titans for further missions. He felt their company would be better for coping with her leaving him. Nothing against the Titans East though, just that he felt they had more important things to attend to. For now, he thought to himself, I’ll just take it easy. So he leaped onto his bed and took a rest.







MAchinery was no problem for Gizmo, but they had been mainly smaller tech. This new robot suit was new to Gizmo’s intellect, but, with a little practice, he knew he could get the hang of it. The robot stood at 10 feet tall, with a glass dome on the base of it where Gizmo sat piloting it’s complex control system, struggling with maneuvering into the nearby road. Below him on the ground, Mammoth closely kept pace with his taller companion. On the other end, Billy Numerous tried to keep pace but fell behind several times. Gizmo sighed at his incompetence. When he turned back to the road, he saw his target: a truck with the words S.T.A.R. Labs printed on its side. Ready for action, Gizmo turned and looked down at Numerous and nodded his head at him. Numerous returned the nod and jumped into the middle of the road. Quickly, he multiplied at least 6 copies of himself, all of which, held their hands out towards the oncoming truck. The driver of the truck immediately slammed on the breaks and the truck stopped a few inches from the Numerous clones. Before the driver could recover, Mammoth charged like a bull into the truck knocking it on to its side near the edge of the highway. Smiling proudly at his cohorts handiwork, Gizmo maneverued his robot onto the road, causing several vehicles to slam the breaks and avoid colliding with its giant legs as the robot approached the damaged truck. On the floor below, Mammoth punched on to the truck ripped the door on its side off, grabbed the unconscious and injured driver and then threw him onto the ground hard. Grabbing a cut in the hull caused by the crash, Mammoth lifted the heavy metal into the shape of a wave to expose 4 yellow crates with S.T.A.R Labs logos on each of them. Gizmo smiled with glee.

The internet, thought Cyborg. So much, yet so little. After the training exercise and mending Kid Flash, he took to taking a chill break in the main lounge with the other Titans. As he was scrolling through his phone trying to find something exciting, his eyes darted towards his friends. Nightwing was talking with Starfire in the kitchen, Beast Boy was playing some video games, and Wonder Girl and Raven were meditating near the monitor. All as well, he thought as he returned his gaze back to his phone. After a minute of scrolling, he noticed a notification from his CNN app. After reading the notification, his eyes widened in horror. Leaping from his chair, Cyborg darted from the remote on the coffee table, and turned the channel from Beast Boy’s video game, enraging him. “Yo, dude! I was in the middle of a level!” he exclaimed. Noticing the commotion, Nightwing and the others gathered around to see what was getting Cyborg riled up. “Cyborg, what has gotten into- '' began Nightwing before Cyborg stuck his finger out to quiet him. Nightwing frowned at the gesture. Before anyone else could intervene, Cyborg finally turned to the tv channel he wanted and pointed everyone’s attention towards the monitor. On the tv was a news channel projecting what seemed to be an armored delivery truck turned to its side near the highway. Surrounding the vehicle was a group of figures attempting to fend off various police cars and S.W.A.T vehicles. One of them was short and inside a giant robot suit, one was bulky, wearing a black, sleeveless unitard and red hair, and the others were skinny men wearing red jump suits. Eager for an explanation, Cyborg’s eyes jotted down to the bottom of the screen where a banner reading “highway assault in progress” was located as well as a square box, housing a female reporter. He listened carefully for the report. “...recently this afternoon, a S.T.A.R. Labs shipment truck was attacked and raided by 3 criminals. They have been identified as 3 members of the terrorist organaization H.I.V.E.”. The station then presented 3 mugshots of the attackers. “Their names..” continued the reporter, “..are Mikron O’Jenus, aka Gizmo, Baran Filnders, aka Mammoth, and William Uno, aka Billy Numerous.” As she finished, Beast Boy laughed loudly like a hyena. Cyborg turned his head, growing at Beast Boy. Beast Boy stopped his laughing abruptly and mugged a sheepish expression. “You see, it’s funny because…. His last name is Uno which is like one and…” but after a quick look from Nightwing, Beast Boy quickly shut his mouth. Cyborg turned his head back to the tv, but turned it off a few seconds later. Still frowning, he turned to the others with a bleak stone face. “Let’s go get them, guys” he proclaimed. He started to step out of the room until Wonder Girl questioned his behavior. “Not that I’m objecting to fighting the bad guys here, but why are you so upset by this?” Cyborg turned to Nightwing and nodded towards him as he stepped out of the room. The team then looked at Nightwing. “Cyborg’s father is head scientist at S.T.A.R Labs. He helped build the tower and keeps our funding going.” he explained. Wonder Girl raised a brow. “And he doesn’t talk about this, why?” she asked. “Because..” Nightwing began, but before he could finish, Starfire walked to his side and finished his statement. “Because it’s somewhat of a sensitive subject for him. Cyborg said that he felt invisible to his father until after an accident that killed his mother and made him the cyborg. His father saved him and introduced him to the team.” Nightwing turned to her with a look of shock. “How’d you know?” he asked. Starfire smiled. “He told me when you were in the ice cube last week.” she explained. Nightwing smiled weakly. He was surprised that Cyborg would talk to anyone besides him about his dark past. Then again, he wasn’t one to talk considering his background with Batman that he rarely told his team about. He had a good reason though. For the time being though, it was time to act. “Titans, Go!” he demanded and the others followed him down to the garage. As they ran, Starfire stopped in her steps, remembering something. “Hold on, I’ll grab Kid-Flash!” she shouted to the others. Nightwing turned and nodded before entering the elevator with the other titans.

Kid Flash had only been awake for 10 minutes since his restful recovery.
Since then, he had been looking through old photos of him and Jinx together on his phone. Sure, this was unhealthy, but at the current moment, it was better than a boring nap. As he looked on, he didn’t cry. Training with Barry Allen had taught him many things. One of which was dealing with grief and trauma. Barry knew what it was like. Before marrying Wally’s sister, he had gone through plenty of break ups and conflicts from his attempts to hide his identity and his duties as a superhero. That and the loss of his mother. Through Wally’s training with Barry, he had learned much about his emotional control but also the knowledge of not completely shutting yourself down from feeling anything. So far it was helping. Just then, he was startled by a loud pounding at his door. Quickly, shoved his phone in his pocket and turned his gaze to the door. “What is it now?!” he asked loudly. “Trouble is brewing on the highway, Kid Flash!” came Starfire’s voice from behind the wood. “We need you to come!”. Sighing, Kid Flash jumped out of bed and sped to action.

During the mists of the robbery of the armored truck, Gizmo had ordered Billy Numerous to grab a handful of policemen to use as hostages to keep the rest of the cops away from their operation. The plan was working and while Mammoth was unloading the necessary materials, Numerous and his clones were surrounding the outside of the truck guarding it while Gizmo aimed the blaster on his mech suit at the police around them to keep them back. Gizmo turned to check on the hostages, but noticed something wrong. “Hey Billy!” he called down to Numerous. “Where are the hostages?”. “Right there!” replied Numerous as he pointed to where he had them tied up. One of his clones then tapped his shoulder and pointed to the area he had left them and there stood a long rope on the ground with a severe lack of hostages. Shocked, Numerous and his clothes searched around desperately for the missing hostages as Gizmo face palmed in anger. Mammoth, who was busy loading the cargo into a giant container that Gizmo’s mech suit could lift on it’s back and transport, turned his attention to Numerous and his clones, raising his eyebrow in confusion. Suddenly, he saw a yellow blur swoop past him, leaving a gust of wind and Mammoth standing there mind blown. He then looked down and saw where the crate should have been between his hands was now just an empty space in between his hands. Looking around in shock, Mammoth panicked silently as he searched for the crate, before he felt another gust of wind, this time above his head. Mammoth gulped as he looked in the air, and saw flying down on him, his missing crate hurling down on him like a freight train. The heavy metal crate slammed onto Mammoth’s face, nealy breaking his nose, and flooring him to the hard pavement. Looking up from his injuries, the only thing Mammoth could see was what looked like a dude wearing a yellow jumpsuit and red hair. Kid Flash, thought Mammoth as he collapsed unconscious. Kid Flash then turned to Billy Numerous, who, in preparation for battle, had already made at least 8 duplicates of himself, all in battle poses. Kid Flash just smirked. “You in what army?!” asked the many Numerous clones. As if fate provided the answers, the clones were greeted with the other titans charging at them with force and fury. Cyborg rushed 2 of them down like bowling pins, Nightwing swooped in and knocked a clone out with his ecrisma, Starfire blasted another pair down with her laser blasts, Raven used her magic to knock one out, Beast Boy turned into a gorilla and collbered the last 2 clones into the ground, and Wonder Girl engaged the real Billy and managed to knock him to his feet. “Yield” she remarked. Numerous raised his hands in defeat. Wonder Girl’s focus was broken when the sound of pounding metal entered her ears. As the rest of the team gathered, Gizmo approached them in his suit of armor as the titans looked up in awe. Smiling evilly, Gizmo swung the fist of his armor towards the titans in an eager attempt to destroy them, right there and then. Seeing the fist approach them, Nightwing nodded quickly to his teammates to bolt from the spot and they dodged out of the way. Nightwing, Starfire, Cyborg, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl jumped to one side and hid behind a roadblock, and Raven and Beast Boy went to the other side hiding behind a destroyed police car. Looking around at what to do, Gizmo looked at the unconscious Mammoth and shook his head. I don’t have time for him to get up, he thought to himself. Numerous got up off the ground and started pacing slowly toward the police car. Smiling, Gizmo used his armor to grab another police car and started to stalk his way towards the Titans hiding behind the roadblock. Nightwing peered from over the road block and saw the scene ahead of them. “Ok,” he said as he ducked his head back down.
“Here’s our strategy: Starfire, Beast Boy and I will distract Gizmo,and Kid Flash will handle Billy Numerous. Wonder Girl: you and Raven will try to hold down Gizmo’s machine as long as you can.” Wonder Girl nodded at the command. Nightwing then turned to Cyborg. “And Cyborg: you try to crack into the interior circuitry and try to short circuit it.” Cyborg smiled gleefully. “First, go to Raven and Beast Boy to explain the plan. Titans! Go!” Jumping over the road block, Cyborg ran, dunked under Gizmo’s armor, engaged his arm cannon, and sent an energy blast towards the Numerous clones. Numerous and his clones were blown back heavily from the blast and they all fell on the ground with a sickening thud. The clones then all returned to their original, unconscious host. Cyborg leaped over the road block where Raven and Beast Boy were hiding behind to tell them the plan Nightwing came up with. Numerous, having regained consciousness, started to walk his way towards the roadblock. Following the plan, Kid Flash zipped in front of the roadblock, blocking Numerous from his friends. “Nah, uh, uh, Billy!” Kid Flash quipped. “You know it’s rude to interrupt people when they are talking.” Numerous snarled at him and duplicated at least 4 clones of himself. Kid Flash smiled. Bending his knees in preparation, he dashed plast the clones and stopped at the side of the highway. Eager to anger Numerous, Kid Flash gave the clones a raspberry and zipped towards the other end to the highway. Meanwhile, Gizmo, approaching the other titans, lifted the police car in his attempt to murder them. Suddenly, Beast Boy, in the form of an octopus, clasped his tentacles on to the armor causing Gizmo to drop the car near a pile of rubble, damaging it. Gizmo eventually gained the upper hand on Beast Boy by lifting him off his back and threw him near a lane of cars. Beast Boy, now leaning on a dented car door slumped down as he turned back to normal. Trying to keep consciousness, Beast Boy blinked several times to keep his vision going and looked around at his surroundings. He noticed a car from a few miles away, tipped upside down with a passenger hanging from the seatbelt knocked out. He then looked down and noticed a trail of liquid oozing out from the gas compartment on the car. He then noticed a spark from a loose cable from another car landed on the liquid setting a quick spreading trail of flames. Reacting quickly, Beast Boy, his back still aching from the impact, rose in front of the ground and ran towards the car as quickly as he could. Please! Please let me get there in time! He thought to himself in desperation. Realizing the fire was getting too close to the car, Beast Boy turned himself into an elephant and quickly sprayed water onto the flames putting it out. He then approached the car and turned into a sloth, using his claws to cut the passenger out of the seat. Leaning the unconscious passenger behind a nearby roadblock, Beast Boy returned to the other titans. As he was saving the passenger’s life, Wonder Girl had successfully caught one of the arms of Gizmo’s armor and yanked it as hard as she could, trying in vain to yank it off. Raven used her powers to cause the other arm to pin itself to the ground. “Hey, get your fancy powers off me, ya freaks!” pouted an angry Gizmo. He shoved down the left trigger of the armor to apply as much strength as he could to free himself from the grips of his prey. It seemed to be working as Wonder Girl was now slowly being tugged by the armor regaining its stance and Raven started to sweat and strain heavily as her powers were now being contested. “I’m losing my grip here!” Wonder Girl informed Nightwing. Raven grunted in agreement. “Whatever you have planned, do it now, guys!” she added. Nightwing and Starfire acted quickly at their request. Starfire grabbed Gizmo’s leg and lifted it up while hovering. Gizmo looked behind him and frowned at Starfire’s interference. “I see the game is now on the other foot!” she stated confidently. “That doesn’t even make sense!” shouted Gizmo as he turned back to the controls and tried to bring his leg back to the ground. Gizmo’s armor was starting to falter, with sparks sizzling out from the sockets of the armor on both the arms and the legs. On the north of the battlefield, Kid flash was soaring back with the Numerous clones following on his tail, nearly breathless. He sped towards near the legs of Gizmo’s armor’s legs when a circle appeared suddenly in front of him. In the center was an alley scene, which Kid Flash found himself running into.

Stopping himself, he skidded his feet and turned around. The circle closed behind him. Looking forward, he saw that the alleyway lead out to a busy road where various cars were going back and forth. He circled in his pace to figure out where he was, when a voice stopped him in his tracks. “Wally?” it said. Kid Flash turned around and right in front of him was the slender figure of a young woman with pale skin and pink hair. Jinx!, he thought. He ran for a moment, but stopped in hesitation, remembering to treat this situation with caution. Jinx slowly but surely paced her way towards him with a look of nervousness upon her face. “What… what is going on here, Jinx?” Kid Flash asked with a mixture of confusion and anger fueling inside him. Jinx looked guilty in her eyes. “Wally, I can explain…” “Explain what?!” demanded Kid Flash, in controlled frustration. “You abandoned us! You abandoned me! For at least a year! I thought you changed, yet you go back to these H.I.V.E idiots and….” “IT WASN’T MY CHOICE!” yelled Jinx, in a attempt to get Kid Flash to shut up and listen. After his ears stopped ringing, Kid Flash turned his attention to what Jinx had to say. “ I’m not doing this because I want to. Gizmo made me.” Kid Flash raised his eyebrow in skepticism and folded his arms. “Go on,”. “Remember the last night we were together? On our 1 year anniversary?” she asked. Kid Flash’s eyes looked back in concentration. “Yeah, I do. We were about to exchange gifts when Raven came to me for help on a mission. You promised you’d be there when I got back. You even told me you denied a request from Gizmo and Mammoth to have a meeting. Then what happened? I came back! You were gone! Left a note, dumping me, and stole anything that could lead us to you! You then disappear for a year and then suddenly show up with your old buddies along with a envious space heiress and a giant armored terrorist who can shoot fire from his hands!” Soaking in what Kid Flash said, Jinx shed a tear but still tried to explain her side. “I didn’t abandon you. I never agreed to work for them.” she murmured. “When you left with Raven, Gizmo sent me another text saying that I didn’t come to him, he’d come to me. I didn’t want any trouble so I went to his old hideout to tell him to leave us alone. But when I got there, Mammoth grabbed me and put a cloth of chloroform on me. When I came to, I found this on my neck.”. She then softly wrapped her hands around the collar of her dress and slowly pulled it down to the end of her chest above the breast. Wrapped around her throat was a silver collar with a red button on one edge of it and a couple vials of red material circling within the glass. Wally unfolded his arms and tilted his head towards the collar. “What is that stuff?” “Nanomites,” replied Jinx. Wally’s eyes widened. “You mean..?” “Yes, it's the same stuff Slade put into Nightwing all those years ago to blackmail him into betraying his friends and the stuff Slade tried to have us push into the water supply a few days ago.” Wally gulped at the mention of it. He remembered what Nightwing had said about it. How dangerous it was. This is bad, he thought. Jinx continued. “Gizmo said that if I dared to defy them they would kill me in front of you. And make you suffer. I.. I couldn’t do that. All I could do was say yes. I left you the note on their orders and agreed to their terms. I’m sorry.” She then teared up and embraced him tightly. Taken aback by it, Wally thought for a sec and then returned the embrace. “I don’t want you to suffer!” Jinx muttered. “I knew you didn’t want me to sacrifice myself so I did what I could.” “How did you get out here, if Gizmo had you in his hands?” asked Wally. Jinx looked up at him, trying her best to suck up her tears. “He locked me in my room to punish me and had Control Freak monitor me with security cameras. But..” she continued with a smile. “... the fat idiot luckily spends more time talking on his little fan boards than doing his job and I found my way out here. I can’t stay for long though. When your friends finish with Gizmo, Mammoth and Numerous, they’ll notice I’m gone and they’ll kill me.” Kid Flash let go and took a step back to think. He knew he had to help his friends at that moment and that any attempt to remove the collar without enough info would be deadly for the time being. After a moment, he came up with a plan. “Ok, Jinx! Here’s the deal.” he began, his hands on Jinx’s shoulders. “I’m going to go back to help the others for now, but I’ll convince them tonight to try to help remove the collar. Just wait until at least 7 tonight and try to be strong. I’ll be there for you!” Jinx smiled weakly and started to head back, his head still turned to him in hope. Nodding toward her, Wally turned around and zipped back to the battlefield.

After seeing Kid Flash’s mysterious disappearance right in front of their eyes, the Titans stood shocked at the sight. Gizmo, noticing this, took advantage and managed to yank Wonder Girls' lasso off the ground with her still attached. Swirling through the air, Wonder Girl thought quickly of an idea before yanking her whip as hard as she could while in mid air. The might of the pull was so strong it yanked off the arm from its socket. The armor was now having trouble staying balanced with the loss of an arm and the damage of the legs. Seeing no way out, Gizmo slammed a control and ejected the canopy. Suddenly, the backpack strapped to his back emitted a pair of flames from the bottom tips and propelled Gizmo into the air. The titans looked in the air at the sight, until they noticed the machine Gizmo was using start to collapse. It started to fall forward towards Nightwing, Raven and Beast Boy’s direction, driving the 3 of them to jump out of the way as the giant armor collapsed with a giant thud to the ground. Not wanting him to get away, Starfire launched herself into the air with such speed and velocity. But she was then stopped when she felt Wonder Girl’s lasso strapped around her ankle stopping her in her tracks. She looked down and saw Donna holding on to the lasso trying not to yank Starfire’s feet down. “Starfire!” shouted Nightwing from down below. “We’ll get him next time! We have to find Kid-Flash and check on the materials!”. Starfire looked up, hesitating for a moment, before taking a deep sigh and heading back to the ground. Landing softly, Wonder Girl pulled her lasso around her arm and Cyborg started charging towards the truck that Mammoth had damaged. Nightwing and the others followed him to the truck to find that Mammoth had now disappeared and a few slabs of the material were scattered on the ground. Panicking Cyborg impulsively leaped onto the truck and looked through the opening Mammoth had made. Cyborg lifted his head out in relief. “Ok, they didn’t steal everything so I think we are good!” Sweating from battle Cyborg leaped from the van and landed with a mighty thud on the pavement. “Only 2 slabs of the material seem to have been taken,” he reported. “Still, this could be detrimental towards S.T.A.R. though. Without the material, my dad..” he stopped before he could finish the sentance, lowering his head. Nightwing approached him gently, but cautiously. “I’m sure he’d understand, Cyborg.”. Cyborg looked up at him with a smile on his face. He then looked above Nightwing’s shoulder and pointed his finger toward the distance. “Hey, the yellow streak has returned.” Nightwing turned around and there he saw Kid Flash now standing in front of the destruction near the highway, looking weary but still optimistic. Ecstatic that he had returned unscathed, Starfire flew quickly over to him and gave him a big hug. “Oh, Kid Flash! We are so glad you are ok!” she exclaimed happily. Looking uncomfortable and taken aback by the gesture, Kid Flash softly patted her on the back and smiled weakly. Noticing this, Wonder Girl approached and put a hand on Starfire. “Ok, kiddo.” she said. “‘I think he’s been through enough for now.” Starfire headed and released her friend. Nightwing looked up at Kid Flash. “What was that? What did that do to you?” Kid Flash blinked a few times, thinking of an answer. “I’ll tell you guys back at the tower!” he finally exclaimed, then, in an instant, zipped from the spot back to HQ. The others looked on in confusion. “What was that about?” asked Beast Boy. Nightwing could tell the others were wondering too. Wanting to relive worry from the others on Kid Flash’s dilemma, Nightwing simply replied “I’ll talk to him when we get back to base. For now our mission is complete. Let’s go.”








Late, thought Slade Wilson. Should have been back by now. He looked out the window from the H.I.V.E headquarters with furious but stoic anger at the lack of return from his new henchman. At heart, Slade knew the titans were probably the liability for keeping the simpletons busy, but he also assumed after 3 years, they would have gotten smarter when it came to these distractions. Turning away, Slade walked along the great hallway on the 5th floor of the towering base and paced himself towards a great staircase leading to the many lower levels of the facility. Earlier, he had sent Blackfire to the training room on the 3rd level of the base to test her skills and abilities to test her potential as his next apprentice. To him, she was important in the goal of finally defeating the Teen Titans and conquering everything they could get their hands on. But more than that, she can be used to getting to her sister and in turn, her brother in law. Entering the room, he found Blackfire punching a punching bag, her hair tied and a pair of black boxing gloves covering her hands. Despite her having an extra terrestrial physiology, Slade preferred most of her training to be more earth based as a way to assist in countering her sister’s allies in combat. His philosophy was to defeat an enemy, you should be at least familiar with the enemy’s combat style. As far as Slade could tell, she was doing well. “So,” he said in his calm, cold voice. “I see your training is improving.” Blackfire turned around quickly, her face covered with sweat and locks of her jet black hair sprinkled on her forehead. Breathing heavily, she bowed towards Slade as a sign of respect towards him. Slade nodded in approval. Standing up, Black fire wiped the sweat off and took her gloves off her hands. “Yes, but I don’t see the point of this common earthling training regime” she said as she took off the band to her tied hair. “It’s demeaning.” “The point..” responded Slade, “Is to be experienced with your enemy’s forms of combat in case they have a home team advantage that you might not have obtained.” Blackfire frowned. She was pleased to be working with this man to obtain revenge on her parental preferred sister, but she was in no interest in lowering herself to Koriandr’s earthly combat skills. Slade could notice her disapproval with the task. Putin his hand on her shoulder, Slade kneeled close to her, the way a reassuring father would to ease the panic of a frightened daughter. “I know what I am teaching you may feel primitive, Blackfire. But I promise you, if you cooperate with my methods, you will finally gain the vengeance you desire against your sister. Understand?” Blackfire bit her lip. She was royalty. She was meant for more than the back labor of a weak earthling. Then again, she had lost her royal privileges since her manipulation of that wedding for her sister 5 years ago. So at this point, she might be at their level. But not for long. If she played Salde’s game, she could finally eliminate her sister and her friends and assume the throne of Tamaran and rule with an iron fist. She tilted her head up to Slade with a confident sneer on her face. “Yes, Slade.” she said. Slade nodded in return. Behind them, the doorway opened and 3 figures stumbled in. Slade turned to see Gizmo, Mammoth, and Billy Numerous, all exhausted and sweaty, kneeling and gasping for breath before him. Knees bent, Gizmo looked up into Slade’s masked face, which felt like looking up at a skyscraper from his perspective “So, how did the attack go? Did you get the material?” he asked. The “S” on his forehead area between the orange and black sides of his mask was glowing blood red. Gizmo felt all the saliva in his throat drain in fear upon the sight alone. The very thought of telling Slade that the task was only partially completed was a thought that made his beard hairs wanna fall off. But he knew the right thing to do right now was to swallow his fear and be honest with him. Because if he didn’t it would be a fate worse than death. “Well, the thing is, Slade..” muttered Gizmo. “..we had a run in with our old friends, the titans, and we weren’t able to completely..”. Slade bent his head down to Gizmo’s level. His eye brow raised from the only exposed area of the mask. Gizmo could only imagine what the other features were expressing at the moment. “Oh? Is that so?” he finally responded. Gizmo took a step back in fear, regaining his composure. “But..” he continued. “We managed to bring in at least some of the necessary materials while they were distracted by an unknown event! Mammoth!” Mammoth dragged into the room the massive crate of material, assisted by Billy Numerous and his clones. Stopping, Numerous gathered his clones and bent his knees as he gasped for air in exhaustion. Mammoth leaned on the crate with a confident expression on his sweaty face like an intern trying to impress his boss. Blackfire rolled her eyes before shoving Gizmo out of her way and approaching the crate. “Step back” she snapped towards Mammoth. Nervous, Mammoth stepped back and watched as Blackfire blasted a bolt of energy at the crate causing all 4 panels to collapse. Resting in the center was a massive slab of metal material that looked to be as big as the foot of a dinosaur. Slade approached and spent a moment examining the material. Gizmo, having gotten back to his feet, took a massive gulp in fear. If Slade was not pleased by this, he’d be decimated for sure. After a beat, Slade turned his attention back to Gizmo. “You did well.”. Gizmo took a huge breath of relief and wiped the sweat off his forehead. Slade then turned to Blackfire. “Go to Brother Blood. Tell him to establish a release for Kid Wykid from the penitentiary. I think Gizmo here has earned it.” Blackfire bowed to Slade and quietly paced herself out of the room. Slade’s attention returned to Gizmo. “Return to the labs. Take the material and apply the material to you and Chang’s creations. You have done well, Gizmo.” Giddy as a schoolboy, Gizmo saluted and quickly zipped out of the room. Slade nodded towards Mammoth and Numerous and the 2 grabbed the material and heaved it out of the room. Slade exited the room himself and ascended into the main hallway of the floor. Flanking into the main meating room, Slade entered to find Control freak walking into the center of the room from the other side, dragging a struggling Jinx with him. He approrached them silently. “She went out!” exclaimed Control Freak as he yanked Jinx hard towards Slade. “No I didn’t!” Jinx protested, unsuccessfully. Slade approached slowly, and, as with Gizmo, bowed himself to meet her at eye level. Jinx took a huge swallow. Even though she was fairly taller than Gizmo, the sight of the tall stature of Slade and his dual colored mask made a terrifying impression on her. She then noticed the only exposed feature of Slade’s face (his eye), darting towards Control Freak. “Control Freak, allow her to explain her side. It’ll be better for us to determine your claim.” Control Freak raised a finger in protest but then lowered it out of fear. The eye returned to Jinx. “Now,” started Slade as he brought his finger towards her chin, “Did you try to leave today?”. Jinx looked down at Slade’s finger pressed upon her chin and frowned. Flicking it away she answered “Yes, but not to go outside of here. I was just… checking the basement… to see if I left my old stuff I had when I was here back during Brain’s rulership”. Slade raised his eyebrow. “Really?” he replied. Standing up, he turned to Control Freak. “Control Freak! Check the tapes to see if our young friend’s claim is true.” Control Freak bowed and hobbled towards the entrance to the room. Jinx thought to herself a way out of this hard before gaining a realization. “Control Freak wasn’t looking at the cameras! He was on his fansite!” she shouted suddenly. Control Freak stopped in his tracks and turned slowly to Slade, his face sweating, and gulped. Slade walked past Jinx and paced himself towards Control Freak. “Does she lie?” asked Slade. Control freak shook his fat head desperately. Slade was not convinced. “Well, if what you say is true, then when I look at your computer, I’ll see the live video feed.” He walked past Control Freak to enter his control room, when Control Freak then got on his knees and broke down. “Ok, I did it! I just had to know what was going on in the Fandom! Please Don’t burn me!” Slade looked up at Jinx who gave a smug smile then back at Control Freak who was still moaning on the floor. “Get up!” he demanded forcefully. Control Freak obeyed and wiped away his tears as he regained his balance. “Since you are very essential in our grand plan, I am letting you live. But, if you neglect your duties one more time, I’ll destroy all that delights you. Understand?” Control Freak nodded quickly and ran back to his lair. Thinking she was out of danger, Jinx attempted to sneak away, but Slade grabbed her arm and yanked her back towards him. “As for you, I don’t know what you’ve been pulling but I swear to God, if you dare leave any of our eyesights, I won’t hesitate to let Gizmo pull the trigger right in front of your boyfriend. Understand?” Jinx frowned at Slade. It was unfair. She had all that power in her yet, she couldn’t use it to save her life now. She couldn’t let herself get killed. She nodded begrudgingly as Slade shoved her away from him roughly. Jinx scoffed off and trudged her way up the stairs towards her quarters. Please hurry, Wally, she thought to herself.


“Did you see that?!” exclaimed Beast Boy, for what felt like the hundredth time. The Titans (except for Kid Flash who had just gotten ahead of them) had returned from their battle with the H.I.V.E Five and were exhausted from combat. Beast Boy though, was more excited than ever that he saved a cop’s life. “Yeah, Gar.” replied a tired Wonder Girl. “We saw. You saved a cop’s life.” “Gar?” asked Raven, her eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face. “Gotta use that one sometime.” Beast Boy frowned at the statement. The 6 arrived at the end of the hall and entered the elevator that led to the other floors of the tower. The doors opened to the main hang out room and they walked in. Beast Boy already made haste to the couch, followed by Cyborg while the girls assembled to the kitchen area to discuss the events. “Why do you think Slade would be after some random bit of metal?” asked Wonder Girl. Cyborg turned his head to face Wonder Girl. “Maybe Brother Blood had it set up to get back at me. By stealing stuff from my family.” he retorted gruffly. Nightwing shook his head. “I doubt Slade would let petty vengeances be motivated for whatever his planning.” Raven leaned on the table with her hand propping up her head. “Maybe he wants to black mail S.T.A.R labs' ' she suggested. Nightwing frowned. “I don’t think S.T.A.R has anything of much that could benefit him.” “Maybe he needs it to build something important!” chimed Beast Boy. Nightwing looked towards him with his eyebrow raised. Beast Boy chuckled nervously. “Well, think about it: that material was obviously super important to steal and the only thing he could do with it is use it to make probably a weapon or something. I mean, I doubt it’s used to make fancy carpets and stuff.” Beast Boy looked around and noticed everyone was looking at him in shock. “What?” he asked, confused. “You came up with all that logic? All by yourself?” said Raven firmly. Beast boy nodded proudly. Raven looked to Nightwing in confusion, as Nightwing shrugged. Nightwing figured that Beast Boy might be right on this one. Slade wouldn’t have the H.I.V.E Five steal something if it wouldn’t be useful to whatever he was planning. For all he knew, Slade could be building a dangerous weapon with that material. As he thought this, he then realized someone was missing. “Hey, Guys. Did you see Kid Flash come in?” The others shook their heads. “I’m right here!” said a loud voice. The voice was followed by a breeze of wind causing the titan’s heads to turn to the hallway leading towards their bedrooms. In the middle of the hall, Kid flash stood with his shoulders folded and face sternly expressed. “We are talking about what happened?” he asked. Nightwing nodded, then turned to Cyborg. “Cyborg, go to the computer room and contact your dad on the material”. Cyborg hesitated at first, then nodded. Sitting up, Cyborg walked past Nightwing silently before descending to a lower level in the elevator. “Girls, Beast Boy!”. He looked around at them awkwardly. “Go.. train.. Or something. I’m going to talk with Kid Flash. I’ll be back in an hour to check on progress. The girls nodded and headed straight to the training room. A confused Beast Boy followed suit. “I don’t know what is going on anymore.” he said

Kid Flash stood at the window of his room. Watching the slowly moving clouds, he reflected on the day’s events. It only barely made sense. Last time he had seen her before the events of the past few weeks was about a year ago during their 2 year anniversary. Then, they had their own Titans team made up of the now deceased victims of Slade including Battle Cat and Argent. They were walking through a park to celebrate, after a night of hanging at the local mall. They were about to exchange gifts, when Jinx got a phone message. The message was from Gizmo inviting her to get together with her old H.I.V.E comrades. She declined and attempted to continue the date when Raven arrived, needing Kid Flash to help with a mission with the Teen Titans. He promised Jinx he’d be back and went to help with the mission. When he returned though, she was nowhere to be found. He searched all over the park but could not find her. He departed back to his base up north of Jump City to see if she was there, only to find a note left from her. The note said that she felt the relationship was not working out and that she needed to go back to her roots and it requested for him not to search for her. He was so distraught over the dumping, he disbanded the team and went to become a member of the titans west. Kid Flash’s team reminded him too much of his breakup and he believed the titans west would be better for his mental health. Now, knowing that his former teammates were now a pile of ashes, he was now regretting the decision. As he was in his thought process, a knock was heard on the door. “I’m not in the mood to talk about this morning, Starfire!” he shouted. The door opened slowly. Kid Flash turned to find Nightwing in the door frame instead, arms folded with a concerned expression on his face. “It’s me, Kid Flash,” he said. “ I hope you don’t mind, but I want to ask you some questions about our fight with the H.I.V.E five today.” Kid Flash nodded and jerked his head to the direction of the bed. Nightwing unfolded his arms and paced himself to the mattress to sit. “So, what was that portal you went through and what happened when you went through it?” he asked. Kid Flash sighed. “What do the nanobites do?” “What?” asked Nightwing surprised at the sudden subject change. “Why do you ask?” Kid Flash just glared at him. Nightwing knew he wasn’t going to get and answer so he just replied to the question. “ When Slade put those things in my friends… years ago… I initially thought it would blow them up. Instead it did something worse. It slowly tortures you to death and you have to watch the people you care about slowly died in front of you. Something that would have happened if we had failed to stop the brotherhood at the waterworks.” Kid Flash bowed his head. “Yeah I thought so.” he said in a depressed tone. Nightwing raised his eyebrow. What is he talking about? He thought to himself. Kid Flash walked to the window, turned his back, and rested his arms behind them. “So that’s what Jinx will be in for.” he finally said. Nightwing sprung from the bed quickly and stood up in a quick pace.
“Jinx?” he questioned, confused. “What does she have to do with this?” Kid Flash turned his head to face Nightwing. “She made that portal to get me out of the battle. Turns out she is working with Slade because Gizmo threatened to kill her to get at me. He put those things in her bloodstream and if she doesn’t do what he or Slade says, Gizmo will activate the devices and kill her. They basically forced her to dump me and join them.” Nightwing stood silently for a beat trying to process this. This was indeed not expected. “So, that’s why you blanked at the waterworks I assume.” Kid Flash nodded. “She shouldn’t be in this situation.” he commented. “I agree.” replied Nightwing. Kid Flash shifted in surprise. Considering how Beast Boy’s request was denied almost a week ago to find out about his dead girlfriend, he in no way expected Nightwing to agree with his proposal here. “You do?” asked Kid Flash. “Yeah,” said Nightwing with a quick nod. “No Titan left behind. If she’s being controlled by Gizmo and Slade, we’ll put a stop to this. I promise.” Kid Flash smiled. Despite not having known Dick Grayson for long, he respected his willingness to leave his confort zone to help his comrades out every so often and his kindness. Kid Flash approached Nightwing and held out his arm. Nightwing shook it. “I’ll go talk to the others about this.” he said. “Just relax for now.”




Cyborg glared at the bright computer screen as he talked to his father. Silas Stone was an inventor and scientist for S.T.A.R labs and, as Cyborg tried to remind himself, had great love for his son. Their relationship had been strained though. When Victor, (Cyborg’s real name) was in high school he was a talented football player and helped win many games. His father though had been absent for the most part, due to his work being prioritized more than his own son. This had caused conflict between the two and had caused various arguments. During his big championship game, his father had once more prioritized the work over his son. So Victor’s mother took him to the championship in place of his father. After the championship, a bitter Victor went home with his mother when an out of control car crashed into the vehicle and knocked Victor out. When he had awoken, he found himself inside a S.T.A.R labs facility with very little feeling in almost all of his body. He was horrified to find that he was covered in robotic parts and cybernetic coverings. His father calmed him down and explained that while his mother died in the crash, Vic had survived but was severely injured. If it weren’t for the cybernetics, he would have met the same fate. Vic was at first angered with his father for making him into a “freak”, but eventually became conflicted over his opinion of his father. So far, this was the first kind thing his father had done for him. Cyborg had remained at S.T.A.R for 2 months until Robin came offering him a position in his newly founded Teen Titans. He accepted and the team was formed. “Victor?” said a deep voice. Cyborg came back from his daydreaming and looked up at the monitor at his father. “Yes, Dad?” he replied. “You alright?”. Cyborg sighed. He both respected his father and hated him. Even though Silas had saved Victor from certain death, he still was conflicted over the fact that he had been neglectful of him for most of his life. Regardless, he had to act professional here. “Yeah, dad. I’m fine. Anyways, the H.I.V.E Five only got ahold of one crate filled with some unknown material. The rest of the shipments are safe.” “Very good.” replied Silas happily. Cyborg nodded in agreement. He hid his angst well in front of his father. Now it was time for the big question. “What is the material exactly, Dad?” Silas raised his eyebrow in shock. This confused Cyborg as to him it was just a simple question. But he just remained silent and allowed his father to explain. “The material those criminals stole is known as Volatile Promethium.” Cyborg was taken back by that revelation. That was the same material used to create his cybernetics that was keeping him alive. Although, he couldn’t understand why Slade would want such material as even he knew it wasn’t the strongest piece of element in the multiverse. “Why does he need that? He can whoop me to high heaven with this material on me, so what makes him think he can beat us with it?” Silas’ eyes darted down. “It’s a more improved version of the material I provided for your armor years ago. I didn’t use it on you as it would require removing your current armor and the process would kill you.” Cyborg grimaced. What would Slade want with improved armor? This made no sense to him. “What’s better about that material compared to mine?” he asked. “The material,” explained Silas, “is more solid than yours and furthermore, nigh indestructible.” Cyborg’s eyes widened. Now it made sense! Slade was going to make a weapon with that material and use it on the city and the titans. Before he could say anything else, he heard a door open. Turning his chair, he saw Nightwing and Kid-Flash enter the room. Cyborg then quickly turned back to the monitor. “The others are here. Gotta go, dad!” he explained quickly. Silas nodded and the screen blinked out. Cyborg then leaped off the chair and marched towards the others with a stern expression on his face. “So what did you find out?” asked Nightwing. Cyborg folded his arms. “It was apparently an improved version of the armor that was used on me that was stolen by Gizmo, Mammoth and Numerous today. I think they took it to be used for some sort of weapon.” Nightwing’s eyes widened. Not only was this terrifying, but it also made sense to him now why he hired Gizmo to work for him as Gizmo would be a good mechanic on weapon design. Now, they needed to find a way to stop them. “I can only imagine what kind of monstrosity they could be building. Tonight, we’ll try to lure the H.I.V.E Five out and take down 2 birds with one stone!” he announced. Cyborg’s eyes widened in surprise. “Two?” He asked, confused. Nightwing nodded. Kid Flash smiled weakly in return. Nightwing then turned and started running up the steps. “Kid-Flash, catch him up! I’m going to tell the others the plan!” he said before bolting out the door. Kid Flash looked back at Cyborg, his red eye sparkling from the computer monitor light and rolled his eyes in awkwardness. “So.. long story. You see… When I got sucked up by the portal, I came across Jinx who told me she’s being forced to work for Gizmo and Slade by the nanobots that you guys apparently had so, while we take out the H.I.V.E Five we also try to free her tonight. Are we cool?” Cyborg just stood there for a full 30 seconds, his arms folded and his features stretched into a stern but intrigued glare. “Ok, I got some of that because of how fast you were talking. You want to help Jinx, why now?”
Kid Flash sighed in annoyance. He knew he had to slow down so Cyborg could understand him. “Gizmo put nanomites inside her to force her to join Slade. Tonight, not only are we going to take the H.I.V.E Five, but we are going to free Jinx! Now come on! Let’s get prepared!”. He started making his way towards the door to leave when Cyborg finally spoke up on the subject. “What if she’s lying?” Kid Flash stopped almost immediately after hearing that response. He turned his head to Cyborg confused. “W..What do you mean exactly?” Cyborg rolled his eyes. “How do you know she isn’t playing you, man?” Kid Flash slowly walked forward, making what sounded like a huffing sound. “Dude,” he said, placing his arm on Cyborg. “I know her. If she is telling the truth, she’s telling the truth. Trust me.” Cyborg flicked Kid Flash’s hand off his shoulder and gave him a huge frown. “No, you only knew her for 2 years. We’ve known her since the beginning. We have been in combat with her and her H.I.V.E five buddies for years. If you think about it, it seems kind of suspicious that she would, after 3 years of being a criminal, suddenly have a change of heart, abandon you, then suddenly need your help after 3 weeks of this.” Kid Flash was silent. He had never thought of that really. When he met Jinx, he had seen her as a normal person being made to do bad things. But considering the out of nowhere break up and sudden beg for help, there could be something fishy going on. But, then again, maybe she wasn’t. She seemed up until recently to be pretty honest with him and it wasn’t like, from what she told him, that she wanted to become evil. As he was in his thought process, he heard what sounded like metal rubbing against each other quickly, and he turned to see Cyborg snapping his fingers to try to get his attention. “Uh, Kid Flash? Earth to Kid Flash?” said Cyborg. Kid Flash shook his head quickly as he brought himself back to reality. “Oh, yeah, sorry. Just thinking of something. Anyway, you really think she’s playing me?” Cyborg sighed and started his way up the stairs. “Just a theory, dude” he commented. Kid Flash continued to ponder the theory as he left. How do I know if she is telling the truth or not? he thought to himself. Suddenly, he came up with an idea.

His heart pounding repeatedly, Wally wasted no time slamming his fist numerous times on Raven’s door. Normally, he would’ve gone to her anyway, but he knew she had a habit of keeping to herself, so the best thing to do was knock first in his opinion. After probably the fiftieth knock, the door opened quickly and Kid Flash felt Raven’s hand grab his arm. She was standing at the door, without her robe, and opting an annoyed expression on her face. “May I help you?” she asked in an irritated tone. Her arm felt surprisingly tight on his wrist, but luckily, it wasn’t as hard as Cyborg’s or Starfire’s hands in an arm wrestling match. Kid flash slowly pulled his hand back as he started to explain what was going on. “Ok, so you know how earlier today I disappeared-” “Yeah I know about the thing with you and Jinx.” interrupted Raven. Kid Flash raised his eyebrow in surprise. “How do you know?” he asked. Raven darted her eyes away from Kid Flash’s eye contact as she folded her arms. “Beast Boy kinda overheard your conversation with Nightwing earlier.” Crud, thought Kid Flash. Gotta check the door next time before I have private conversations. Straightening himself out, Kid Flash folded his arms and tried to explain things in the most professional fashion he could. “Ok, whatever, I’ll talk to him about that later.Right now, I need your help.” Raven raised her eyebrow in confusion. “My help?” she asked dryly. Kid Flash nodded in response. “You can read minds, right?” Raven frowned and approached Kid Flash slowly. He stepped back a little, arms still folded, trying to retain his professional attitude as he took his cautious reproach. “One” snapped Raven, “As I have made it clear before,I don’t read minds. Just emotions. Through emotions, I see memories and motivation. I can’t see what one is thinking at the current moment. And two: what are you planning with this?” Wally darted his eyes away from Raven’s. He didn't know how to take this approach now, with this limitation of her abilities, and it seemed like she wasn’t exactly going to approve of this plan. But he went for it anyway. “When we confront the H.I.V.E Five tonight, can you, for me, read Jinx’s emotions to see if she is either genuine or a traitor?”. Raven unfolded her arms and put her hand on Kid Flash’s shoulder in comfort. “Wally, I know what you want to do and what your intentions are for this, but I don’t think invading someone’s private feelings is the right way to handle it. That’s like reading someone else’s diary. It’s considered wrong. I understand that you wanna save Jinx and make sure this isn’t a trick, but I can’t guarantee I can help with this.” For the first time in this confrontation, Kid Flash’s eyes met with Raven’s violet eyes, watching him sympathetically despite the blank expression on her pale face. It felt good that someone cared enough for him to explain the consequences of his plan, but it also still ached not knowing that the woman he loved might either be threatened or playing him for a fool. He couldn’t let this go yet. Not now. He was close to regaining his relationship with her and he had to take a chance. “But I have to try. I need to know if the woman I love is still there.” he said in a desperate but stoic plea. Raven closed her eyes and sighed. She knew at this point, there was no use talking him out of it. “Fine” she finally responded. “I’ll help.”


It had been 5 hours since her conversation with Wally and Jinx was already feeling worse for wear. She was now being tailed almost everywhere by one of the Numerous clones to make sure she didn’t act up or escape again. At the moment, she was in the H.I.V.E lounge along with Gizmo, Mammoth, and Kid Wykid (who Slade recently busted out of prison) trying to read a book while being monitored by a clone. It felt very irritating to have someone (especially someone as annoying as Billy) watching over her shoulder constantly, let alone, a metal collar around your neck. Frowning, she took her book and used it to whap the clone on the head in anger. The clone howled in pain as he fell to the ground. The real Numerous than ran into the room in a heartbeat with a look of horror and concern on his face, as he lifted up his wounded clone. “Billy 2!” he screamed. Sighing, Gizmo walked over towards the 2 Billies and slapped the prime one on the back of the head. “Oh shut your mouth! It's just a bump on the head!” he shouted grumpily. He then turned his tiny head towards Jinx. “And you. You mind your manners if you wanna stay on this planet another day” he threatened. Jinx frowned at Gizmo before turning her attention to her novel and did her best to ignore him. After a beat, Mammoth piped up. “Guys! Look at the TV!” he shouted in an excited tone. Everyone’s attentions perked up towards a tv hanging from a rod connected to the ceiling, with power cords hanging from its base, leading towards an outlet. On the screen was a male TV news reporter and next to him was a monitor showing what looked like an armored truck going along the street. The newscaster bundled up his papers and turned his attention to the camera. “In other news, S.T.A.R. Labs is ushering another shipment of materials tonight, despite today’s earlier attack, to a private location. Lead scientist Silas Stone promised that tonight’s shipment will have tighter security measures.”. Gizmo smiled at this news. A big opportunity had emerged. If he could steal whatever this shipment is for Slade, he could probably get a reward beyond anything he could imagine for double the materials. He needed this advancement. He turned his head to look at his crew when his eyes dawned on Jinx. He couldn't leave her here. Not after her run away earlier.He certainly couldn’t leave her with Control Freak either after he proved his incompetence earlier. Sighing, he knew what the only option was at this point. “Mammoth, tell Slade the news. Kid wykd, prepare my laser gun and Billy..” he turned to Numerous who was still cradling his clone. “Grab Jinx and keep a good eye on her.” Jinx widened her eyes and stood up. “What?!” she said, surprised. Numerous looked surprised as well as he merged with his clone and got to his feet. Jinx tossed her book on the couch and turned her head towards Gizmo. “Why? I thought I was grounded for the eveneing?” Gizmo groaned. “No I didn’t. Slade did. I just can’t leave you here unattended. Besides..” He put his tiny hand into his satchel and pulled out the trigger. Jinx’s angered expression turned to worry as she focused her vision on the little red button on top. The little twerp’s thumb was lightly, but almost forcefully moving the button down slowly. Numerous, standing on the other side of the couch, smiled a wicked grin. This was the first time Jinx witnessed Numerous that sadistic. She turned back to the button and lowered her head. “Fine, I'll come.” she said at last. Gizmo placed the detonator in his pocket, with a wicked smile on his face. “Good,” he said. “Billy, grab the transport crate. We’re going to make it good tonight!”

8:00, right on time, thought Cyborg as he waited patiently by the warehouse loading area. Despite his doubts on Jinx’s true loyalties, Cyborg was still flexible enough to help lure the H.I.V.E Five out by asking his father to use a dummy transport operation and announce it on the news. Cyborg looked around to make sure the other Titans were in place at the neighboring warehouses. On the left one, Nightwing, Stafire and Kid Flash were waiting patiently on the roof top for the villains to arrive while Beast Boy, Raven and Wonder Girl were doing the same on the right. At the moment, Cyborg was peeking out of the center warehouse garage, keeping an eye on the oncoming attack. He looked at the tracker monitor on his left arm and saw the red dot on the road at full speed. According to the approx time on the left of the monitor, it would be at least 8 minutes before they got there. The only thing going through his mind was that it wouldn’t affect anything on S.T.A.R Labs side. His relationship with his father had already been rocky and he didn’t need it to get worse.

Kid Flash looked at his watch. 8:00. He leaned back on the concrete balcony and sighed loudly. He needed this to work. He needed to hopefully free Jinx from the H.I.V.E five’s control. Internally, he hated himself for having left that night. He should have declined Raven’s request to join in battle. That way, none of this would have happened. Nightwing noticed Kid Flash’s down face and looked at Starfire. She nodded sympathetically. Nightwing looked back at Kid Flash and kneeled near him. “Hey, are you good?” he asked. Kid Flash looked up at his leader. “I guess. It’s just…What if this is a trick?” he said as he straightened himself on the concrete. Looking for help with the question, Nightwing looked at Starfire who also leaned in to the conversation. “Wally,” she said as she tipped up Kid Flash’s chin. “As someone who has both experienced slavery and thought someone close to me had gon dusk,” she paused a beat to look at Nightwing who gave a weak smile at the remark. “...I believe you’ll know who’s on the right side when the time does come. And if she is on our side, then she should be free. No one deserves slavery. And you don’t deserve to be enslaved to these circumstances.” Kid Flash lightly smirked. “Thanks,” he finally exclaimed. Nightwing extended his arm towards him. Kid Flash grabbed it and allowed himself to be hoisted back onto his feet. Suddenly, a beeping noise went off and Nightwing reached behind him pulling out his Titan Comm. “Yes?” he asked the mic. “They’re here. Get into positions” came Cyborg's voice. Nightwing nodded and ducked down. Kid Flash and Starfire followed suit. Kid Flash peeked his head over the edge and looked down as the big loading truck pulled into the center lot. After a beat, a loud poofing noise was heard and on the right side of the truck stood Gizmo, Mammoth, Jinx, Kid Wykkid, Private Hive, and Billy Numerous surrounded by a brief bit of smoke

After a moment, Beast Boy looked over the cinderblock edge and saw the 5 scumbags surrounding the truck. He leaned back behind the cinderblock and looked towards Raven. “Can we take em now? Please?” he asked eagerly. Raven looked towards Wonder Girl. She shook her head. “Not until the signal is given.” replied Raven. Beast Boy frowned. All he wanted to do tonight was rough these punks up for being a menace to them for years and now, for blackmailing one of their own and using her to hurt Kid Flash. He perched his head back over the edge and watched as Gizmo had Mammoth open up the back of the truck.


The 2 metal doors opened with a gigantic CLANG sound. The noise didn’t bother Gizmo much. All that mattered to him was the sweet materials that could get him in good, if not better, with Slade. Turning to Mammoth, Gizmo nodded his head and Mammoth quickly leaped into the cargo area. After few seconds, he reemerged. “There’s nothing in there!” he shouted loudly. Gizmo’s smile dropped like an anchor. “What?!” he shouted in his high pitched voice. Struggling to get over the truck ledge, Gizmo lifted himself into the truck and found an empty space inside the cargo area of the truck. His knuckles clenched. This was nothing more than a trick. How could he have been so foolish? But his troubles wasn’t over. Out of nowhere, a metallic creaking noise was heard and Gizmo turned to see both doors closing on their own.


Mammoth tried his best to run to the doors to stop them from shutting but it was too late. Mammoth grabbed the 2 handles only to be shoved back by a mysterious force on the ground. The other members looked up on to the left warehouse to find Raven, Beast Boy, and Wonder Girl on the ledge. “Ready for round 2?” exclaimed Beast Boy. Snarling, Numerous turned to Kid Wykid who vanished in a puff of smoke. Appearing behind Beast Boy, Wyykid tackled him off the ledge and the 2 started to hit and punch each other as they started falling to the ground. Looking worried, Wonder Girl turned to Raven. “Help them!” she shouted. “I’ll deal with these guys!” Wonder Girl nodded and started twirling her lasso and hurled it towards Beast Boy’s leg, catching him in mid fall. Wykid, realizing he was close to hitting the gound, disappeared once more in a cloud of smoke. On the ground level, Private Hive shoved Numerous forward to combat Raven, who had levitated herself on to the ground, grabbed Jinx, and then yanked her as they hurried to the truck. Jinx tried with all her might to free herself, but Private Hive’s grip was hard as stone. She felt her arm tugged hard and after a struggle she gave in. A beat later, Jinx witnessed a brilliant flash of blue light erupt and felt the grip on her arm released as she witnessed Private Hive’s body hurl through the air and land on the doors of the cargo area on the trunk, before slumping to the floor unconscious. Jinx looked behind her, near the center warehouse. Standing in front of it was Cyborg, holding his arm blaster forward, with smoke rising from the tip of it. “Compliments of S.T.A.R Labs, scum!” he announced proudly. Jinx smiled. “Jinx!” a voice cried and Jinx turned her head to the warehouse on the right where she saw Nightwing leap down from the roof, and Starfire lowering what appeared to be Wally to the ground. Jinx smiled with hope.


Wally looked at the cargo area of the trunk intensely. He knew he needed to disable the detonator for the nanomites after the rest of the Five were beaten, but the only thing that surrounded his consciousness was Jinx. He looked at her. She was smiling. Her hope was returning. Kid Flash fist bumped the air and charged towards Numerous and his many clones. He quickly landed punch after punch on the purple suited thugs and floored them in a matter of seconds. Afterwards, he surveyed the area. Raven and Beast Boy were in close combat with Kid Wykid and Nightwing, Cyborg, Wonder Girl and Starfire were all trying to subdue Mammoth, who seemed to be waning in strength from the exertion. He decided first to remove Jinx from the conflict. That way, she could be safe until they could subdue the H.I.V.E Five and take the detonator away from Gizmo. He stopped himself right next to her and took a moment to let her adjust to seeing him. Happy, she immediately embraced Walley and he could feel his cheeks go red. “”You came.” she said happily. Kid Flash returned the grin. It was good to have her in his arms again. Before they could kiss, they heard a sizzling noise grinding on metal. They both turned their heads to the cargo box, nearly getting blinded by a bright orangish light. After adjusting their eyesight, the reunited couple were able to make out the metal on the box being burned in the shape of a circle with red and orange sparks being sprayed everywhere. The lid then flew a few meters from the hole and landed with a loud bang. Gizmo slipped out, holding in his hand a laser pistol, with a furious expression on his face. He turned his head to face Jinx and his jaw dropped in fury when he saw her hands on Kid Flash’s chest and his arm around her waist. Wally noticed quickly as Gizmo reached into his satchel for the trigger and jumped into action. He sped up to the little twerp and tackled him to the ground, just as his finger was close to touching the trigger. The trigger fell a few inches away from Gizmo’s hand as Kid Flash pinned him to the ground to try to prevent him from grabbing it. “Wally!” shouted a worried Jinx. She turned to the controller and reached out her hand and allowed it to telekinetically fly through the air. Gizmo, who was struggling to get out of Kid Flash’s grip, ripped an arm out and stuck 2 fingers into his mouth to whistle. Mammoth, who was in the middle of flooring Nightwing, looked behind him, saw the situation and charged his way towards the trigger. Mammoth immediately grabbed it and shoved Jinx to the ground. This angered Kid Flash and he released Gizmo and leaped onto Mammoth’s back. As he was struggling, he looked towards Jinx who was getting up, then towards Raven who was in the middle of trying to wretch Kid Wykyd off of Beast Boy. “Raven! Now!” he shouted. Raven looked towards Jinx and freed one hand towards her and a purple light of energy erupted. The others covered their faces to shield from the light. Doing his best to squint threw the glare, Kid Flash managed to see what was going on: Raven was probing Jinx’s mind as Jinx looked frozen and pupiless. He also noticed Raven starting to get onto one knee and sweat coming down her face. She was weakening. Knowing he needed to hurry and get rid of the trigger, Kid Flash ran fast, nabbed it and ran towards Cyborg. Cyborg was pinning down Billy Numerous with his arm cannon aimed to make sure he didn’t try to escape. He was still trying to block out the glare when Kid Flash tapped his arm. “Here! Destroy it!” Wally shouted. Cyborg nodded and aimed his arm cannon to the air. Kid Flash hurled it and Cyborg emitted a blue blast of light, blasting the trigger to smithereens. The purple light dulled and Raven collapsed to her knees. Jinx fell backwards but managed to catch herself with her hands. The other heroes and villains could only stand shocked at what happened. Gizmo, speechless, scurried away and tried to hide behind Mammoth, who had just gotten back to his feet. Beast Boy and Wonder Girl, having clocked Private Hive, shoved him towards Gizmo as Numerous and Wykyd regrouped. Cyborg stood in front of the group aiming his arm cannon to prevent them from fleeing. “Don’t even think about it.” he snarled. Nightwing and Starfire ran up to Kid Flash to see if he succeeded. “Did you do it?” asked Nightwing, breathing heavily. Kid Flash nodded and pointed towards the remains of the trigger. Beast Boy, meanwhile, hoisted a weakened Raven’s arm over his shoulder and stood up, supporting her. “You ok?” he asked. Raven weakly looked at Beast Boy. She smiled. “Yeah… I think. Never…held…on..that long”. Suddenly, her eyes widened and her cheeks puffed up, causing her to slap her free hand over her face to keep herself from vomiting. On the other end, Wonder Girl helped a temporarily unconscious Jinx to her feat. “What happened?” she asked, holding her dizzy head. Wally walked up to her and showed the pieces of the trigger. “You’re free.” said Wonder Girl, putting her hand on Wally’s shoulder in congratulations. Jinx’s eyes teared happily and she launched herself onto Kid Flash and wrapped her arms around him happily. Kid flash returned the gesture. He never felt happier to have her back. “But what was the purple light about?” she asked. Kid Flash grinned. “ It was to make sure you were telling the truth about your captivity earlier.” Jinx then released him and took a step or two back. “What?” she said, her voice turning gruff. Kid Flash looked confused at her response. “Uh, yeah? And it seems like you're clean. Right, Raven?” Raven nodded, still trying her best to hold in her vomit. Jinx did not look happy. She looked back and forth from Kid Flash to Raven about a minute before speaking. “You… you didn’t believe me?!” she said with both fury and confusion in her tone. Cyborg did his best to try to look at what was going on and keep an eye on the Hive Five. Gizmo noticed his attempted multitasking and raised a brow. Meanwhile, Kid Flash was still trying to talk to Jinx. “What?” Wally asked, surprised. “That’s not what I meant. Or what I was trying to do”. Jinx stood away from him and then turned furiously to Raven. “And you! You helped violate my mind?!” she yelled. Raven woozily attempted to speak but she still couldn’t keep her vomit down in her stomach. Beast Boy, on the other hand, was willing to speak up. “Hey, we helped free you! You should be grateful!” he shouted back. Jinx marched up to Beast Boy and pointed her finger a few inches to his face. “Don’t get involved, Logan!” Beast Boy looked down at the finger and back at her. His frown returned. “If my friend here wasn’t hurt, I’d fight you right now for your ungratefulness.” “Guys! Stop!” shouted Nightwing. He ran up and got in between the 2, gently nudging them away from each other. “Arguing will not solve anything here!” Beast Boy glared at her then turned to Nightwing. He nodded and walked a few inches back, still supporting Raven’s weakened form. Nightwing lowered his arms and turned his attention to Jinx. “Listen, don’t yell at them. I was the one who gave approval for this. If you wanna yell at anyone…” “No,” said Kid Flash suddenly. Nightwing and Jinx turned to him and Kid Flash looked at them both,stoic but stern. “Don’t take the blame for me.” Nightwing nodded and stood with Starfire as Kid flash walked towards a sullen Jinx. “Listen, I just wanted to make sure you were telling the truth. I mean considering your history.” He wanted to take it back right there and then, but he couldn’t. He realized what he said immediately and hated himself for the explanation. “No, no! That’s not what I meant!” he tried to explain, flustered. But it was too late. The look on her face and the tears streaming down her eyes were already self explanatory results of her current mood. “My history?! You mean all the manipulation and blackmail that I was put through?! You really thought I’d lie about something as serious as this?!” Wally gulped and his expression was smothered with guilt. There was nothing he could do now but take it. “I thought, you of all people, knew who I was! I thought you saw good in me! But now I see that I was lied to as usual!”. As soon as she finished her statement, her eyes started to glow pink and pink flame-like substances started to bloom from her hands. The energy seemed to grow bigger and bigger, and from what Nightwing could tell, it looked dangerous. “What’s she doing?!” he shouted to Kid Flash. “I have no idea!”. Cyborg, still trying his best to keep his arm blaster aimed at the five and see what was going on, seemed worried as his mouth looked like it was about to hit the floor. Impulsive, Wally ran up to Jinx and grabbed her shoulders, lightly but firmly. “Jinx! Whatever you're doing, please stop!”. She then looked up at him. Her eyes were roaring with brilliant shades of magenta and her expression was more intense than he had ever seen in her. “Dont!” she finally bellowed. “Touch. Me. AGAIN!!!!”. Suddenly, Wally felt himself blown back once more, but a thousand times harder, to the hard pavement, the magenta light still shining. As soon as the light faded, he lifted his head. His spine was still killing him from his collapse earlier. But the pain would fade. This didn’t nearly as hurt as what had just happened. Looking up, he saw his other titan comrades also on the ground, struggling to get to their feet. He turned to see how Cyborg was and found him lying unconscious near the warehouse door. Looking up from there, he saw Gizmo, Mammoth, Numerous and Private Hive all grab onto Kid Wykyd as he teleported them back to their base in a cloud of smoke. Kid Flash got up and he zoomed up to Beast Boy and Raven. Raven attempted to heave herself up but collapsed again. “Here,” said Kid Flash as he gently held her waist to get her to her feet. Beast Boy approached and once again slung her arm around his shoulder. “Thanks,” Raven said weakly as she still attempted to hold down her vomit. Kid Flash nodded. “Don’t mention it.” He looked back to Cyborg, who was being tended to by Wonder Girl. She continuously tapped on his face until he regained consciousness. “What happened?” he asked as he got to his feet. Kid Flash looked at him and then to the spot where Jinx stood. Now, there was a massive burned ring in the ground and a lack of a young, pale, beautiful girl. He looked around for a sec before noticing, in an alley between the 2 warehouses, a figure of a woman covered in a pink glow, running into the night. Nightwing and Starfire approached behind him and witnessed the sight too. “Should we go after her?” asked Starfire, sympathetically. Wally shook his head. “No. Let her go. She’s free now and that’s all that matters. See you guys at the tower.”. He then sped up in a gust of wind as his friends looked on in sorrow.

It had been only an hour since it happened. Kid Flash was still mourning. He stood by his window in his room, hands behind his back, and stared into the hard cold night. The others had gotten back fine. Except for Raven, whom Beast Boy had been helping hurl into the toilet from magic excretion for the past hour. Wally still stared. He had lost her. Again. Though, now, it was because of him she was gone. There was no point in going after her. It would only make things worse. The only thing he could do now was be grateful that she was no longer Gizmo’s slave. He then heard a knock at the door. “Come in,” he replied. The door creaked open and Nightwing approached. “Hey, I was just seeing how you were holding up after what happened tonight.” he explained. Kid Flash looked behind at him and nodded. “I’m doing fine.” Nightwing nodded back, but he still felt a scent of guilt within him about the night’s events. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t do enough to help tonight” he apologized. Wally turned his full body around with a stoic expression on his face. “This isn’t your fault. This is no one’s fault. We all made our choices. I made my choice to invade her mental privacy and she made her choice to be mad at me. A justified decision. These things happen.” Nightwing raised his eyebrow. He was honestly surprised at how well Kid Flash was taking this. Knowing that it was best to leave, he headed to the door. “If you need anything just let me know”, he said as he approached the door. “I’d like one thing,” replied Wally suddenly. “Don’t take everything like it’s your fault.” Nightwing smiled slightly and nodded. He closed the door and went to his room. The only thing they could do now was prepare for whatever came next in this mission.


End.