Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Holy shit Billy the smoke’s so thick it could cutta knife in here.”

“A knife could cut the smoke you mean, Billy,” the second Billy offered.

“What I want to know is who was the hat eating jackass that did this,” Gizmo interrupted as he eyed the broken shopfronts and the torn up pavement, “The entire block is totaled.”

“Who cares.” Mammoth answered, “It looks likes whatever happened is here done-for already. Once the dust settles the cops’ll start sniffing around. Think we can scrounge up anything worth taking ‘fore they come round Boss?”

At the lack of a response Mammoth turned to his side and asked again; “Boss?”

Jinx was silent and staring intently at something on the ground in the distance; not an unusual occurrence to be sure, but Mammoth could practically see the wheels in her head turning.

“You see somethin’ innerestin with those catty eyes of yours?”

“Yeah, hold up,” she replied, causing the group to stop short; “What’s that on the ground there.”

After eyeing it briefly See-More replied, “looks more like a 'Who' to me.”

“That’s what I thought,” Jinx replied, “Let’s check it out. Looks like they got on a cape. Maybe someone kicked the bucket?”

“Shit, it ain’t Kyd is it?” the third Billy asked; “where did that boy get oftta?”

“Behind you, snotmuncher,” Gizmo replied in exasperation.

Billy turned, caught sight of Kyd Wykkyd and screamed before clutching his hand to his chest.

The Billy clones condensed into the original Billy and the Hive student maneuvered himself closer to Mammoth.

“By damn we gotta get that boy a bell.”  

“Quiet!” Jinx snapped; instantly her team ceased chattering.

As the group grew nearer, their target’s identity became immediately apparent.

“Holy smokes, it’s a Titan!” Gizmo screamed.

“Hey Boss let’s beat it before the others show up,” See-More pleaded; “I just washed this suit.”

“Keep a lookout then,” Jinx ordered; she walked closer and knelt down to take a better look.

There wasn’t any blood splattered anywhere, nor were there any blunt objects lying around; curious, she rolled the Titan over and slid the cloak away from the hero’s face.

“She’s breathing,” Jinx stated, as she continued her impromptu examination.

“Fuck. Is that worse? She’s gonna cometo and think we did it. Shit. Of all the Girl Scout Goodies it had to be this one, Christ,” See-More muttered; Billy nodded at him in agreement.

Jinx pulled the Titan into a sitting position; “Let’s take her to the base. We might be able to-”

Jinx’s words were cut short as the Titan’s eyes fluttered open.

Collectively, the Hive students held their breaths.

There was a haze to the girl’s eyes that lingered; there was no flicker of recognition or reflex, much to Jinx’s confusion.

Quietly, the girl spoke.

“...Do I know you?”

Jinx felt her throat dry out and she heard her team’s collective intake of breath; she looked the girl over.

“Yes. You do,” she offered encouragingly.

The girl looked herself over, and then glanced at her teammates.

“Are we… a team of some sort?”

Jinx nodded, “That’s right. It’s okay if you can’t remember much of us yet. You just joined a few days ago.”

Jinx knew without looking that her friends had likely caught on to her change in plans and would be ready to play along. She let her expression fall and laced her words with a lilt; “I’m sorry you got hurt; we tried to get to you sooner but this damn fog made it hard to locate anything. Don’t worry tho Raven, we’ll get you back to the base and checked up.”  

“Raven.”

Jinx nodded, “That’s your name.”

“And yours is?”

“Jinx” she replied sadly; she didn’t need to fake the somewhat hurt expression of not being recognized.

Jinx gave the girl what she hoped was a reassuring smile and helped her to her feet.

“Mam,” Jinx barked, catching the boy’s attention, “Give the lady a lift, and gently, please.”

Mammoth nodded and scooped Raven up as gently as he could muster.

“Glad you’re alright,” Mammoth offered her, once she was settled.

Raven was silent and exhaled as if exhausted.

Jinx cast one look around the area and then at her friends.  

“Alright Team, let’s get home then.”    

Chapter Text

Raven winced as she tried to shy away from the bright fluorescent lights of the Med Room.

Mammoth crossed the room and handed Jinx her cloak, which Jinx returned to Raven, who put it on gratefully. Once her eyes were shielded under the hood, the girl visibly relaxed. Her knees were tucked against her chest and she made no move when Jinx sat on the edge of the bed beside her. 

“Well the rest of you seems to be functioning properly so that’s good. It’s probably just temporary amnesia then,” Jinx offered helpfully.  

“So what now?”

“Now?” Jinx replied, “Now we’re going to the living room where you’re gonna sit down and relax and I’m gonna get you something to eat. It can’t be easy remembering stuff on an empty stomach.”

“I’ll second that!” Mammoth replied happily, “I refuse to remember anything without at least six pizzas before breakfast.”

Raven eyed him warily and the boy smiled broadly.  

“What, a growing boy’s gatta eat, donn’he?”

With that, Jinx slid to the floor and offered Raven a hand.

She took it hesitantly, and Jinx was momentarily surprised by the warmth under the pallor of Raven’s skin.

Wordlessly, she helped the Titan to her feet and offered her another smile and led her to the door, which Mammoth held open.

When they stepped into the hallway, Raven paused, prompting Jinx to look at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Is... there a shower I can use?”

Relieved, Jinx nodded; “Of course. It’s down the hall and to the left. It’s got a sign on it so you can’t miss it. Towels are in the closet in there. We’ll wait here if you want. Shout if you need us.”

Raven nodded and headed down the hall.

The pair of Hive students watched her disappear naturally into the darkness instead of dissolving into it, as they half expected her to do.

Once the Titan was out of sight, Mammoth released an exhale of breath.

“You think-”

“The walls are always listening,” Jinx interrupted.

Mammoth nodded and lowered his voice, hunching his posture as he did so.

“You think we can pull this off?”

“Only till she snaps out of it. But until then, I mean, why not?”

“Because this is a stupid plan and it never works?”

Jinx sighed and rolled a hand absently; “The reason it never works is because the Badies are always like ‘You were my evil pawn all along’ and the good guys are like ‘Oh wow, you lied to me!’ and everyone ends up salty. As long as we play it that she came to us and we don’t really know why, we can’t lose.”

“So what are we hoping to get out of this?”

Jinx shrugged; “It’d be nice to have another girl on the team. ‘Specially one with her skillset,” Jinx offered, “Plus it’d be a great Fuck You to the other Titans.”

“Why’d they just leave her lyin’ there tho?” Mammoth asked, “That’s not like them is it?”

“Who knows, maybe they betrayed her,” Jinx replied, crossing her arms, “I mean, she’s kinda always looked like the odd one out. Maybe it was just a matter of time.”

“Works for me. As long as all of this falls on your shoulders when she’s back.”

Jinx was about to make a snappy reply when a change in her peripheral vision caught her attention.

Looking up, she realized several things, all at approximately the same time.

One of which, was that Raven had returned from her shower. The second, was that Raven might possibly have heard the tail end of their conversation, and third, that the girl was wrapped only in one of the overly fluffy purple towels reserved for herself.

“Well if your master plan was to see me in a towel then you’ve quite succeed,” Raven quipped, her head tilted slightly and a single eyebrow raised.  

Jinx was nearly knocked over as Mammoth turned around to hide his blush. Jinx didn’t bother trying to hide the heat rising to her cheeks; she was more startled by the girl’s sudden appearance than anything else.

She bit her lip as she fumbled for something to say.

“Yeah I probably should have given you something before you went in,” Jinx offered apologetically as she tried desperately to avoid letting any of the numerous innuendos in her mind roll off her tongue; “You can wear some of my stuff, if you want.”

Raven didn’t reply but walked closer, which Jinx presumed to mean that it was an agreeable suggestion and that she really did assume their con to be that of wanting to see her in a towel and not of the villainous intent to trick her.  

Mammoth grunted and skittered back, electing not to follow them.

Jinx ignored him and led Raven through a hallway and down another corridor; every so often she’d cast a glance at the girl beside her and take note of the way the light glimmered against her hair and the residual moisture clinging to her skin.

Upon coming to her door, Jinx slid open the number pad beside it and tapped in her combination.

The door slid open with a rush of air.

“Mi casa es su casa,” Jinx stated, as she ushered Raven in ahead of her.

“Gracias. Eso es muy amable.”

Surprised, Jinx asked, “You speak Spanish?”

Raven shrugged.

“Right. Amnesia,” Jinx replied, nodding once; “Well, help yourself to anything that fits,” she said before plopping herself down on her bed.

“Is that what I’ve been doing since I joined?” Raven asked as she wandered further into the room, glancing around.  

Jinx watched the girl take note of her decor and and the few clothes left strewn about that Jinx hadn’t gotten around to sorting yet; she picked up a hoodie off the back of her chair.

“Pretty much. You didn’t bring anything when you joined. You just showed up on our doorstep and asked if you could come in.”

“And you let me?” Raven asked, looking up from the hoodie.

“Well, I mean, it’s not everyday something like that happens and we were curious.”

This seemed to tide the Titan over and she returned to looking around.

The dresser soon caught her attention and Jinx cast a glance at her nails; they were flecked with black polish yet to wear off, and some of them were torn shorter than the others. She picked the dirt out from underneath them one by one as she listened to the sounds of drawers being slid open and shut.

She looked up to see the Titan’s back, the towel having slid down a bit, and Jinx took note of the red jewels traveling down the girl’s spine. They matched the one on her forehead, in both cut and color, and Jinx wondered if the adornments had any relation to any of the many Indian chakra systems or the gemstones utilized by Wiccan practices. She wondered if they were piercings or permanent fixtures. She wondered what they were made of and what they were worth. She felt compelled to ask about them, but refrained; she assumed Raven probably wouldn’t be able to give an answer to her in her current state.

The towel slid down around her hips as she pulled on one of the tops in the drawer and for a brief moment, Jinx watched the muscles along her back ripple as she moved her arms.

That explained all the hefty punches when they had fought, Jinx thought; the girl was packing a pretty good physique as well as her psychic power.

Jinx looked at her nails again as Raven grabbed the towel; there were a few thin scars scattered over her fingers, leftovers from broken glass and rough fence tops. One of them was permanently stuck a little crooked after a particularly nasty break. She remembered the way the brick had felt against her hand during the incident as she listened to the drawers being slid open and closed again.   

She heard the towel’s slump to the floor and looked up again; Raven had found a black pair of her gently used shorts and Jinx found herself oddly envious of the way they hugged the girl’s hips. 

She thoroughly appreciated they way her tank top hung around the Titan’s chest however; the skeleton print tank had been a good choice, in Jinx’s opinion. 

The faded purple hoodie was then zipped up over the makeshift ensemble. It was snug on Raven, but not overly so; Jinx preferred her casual wear to be comfy and with her petite frame, most of her clothes were a little baggy to begin with. The hoodie long enough to nearly hide the shorts and the sleeve cuffs hid most of her hands.

The socks that Raven had managed to find were also a nice touch, in her continued opinion, even if their solid black coloring was a bit plain with the outfit.

Still; Jinx felt her heart warm to girl, and allowed a grin to spread across her face.

“Lookin’ good Sugar.”

The corners of Raven’s mouth upturned slightly, and Jinx grinned harder.

“Feel up to going downstairs yet or do ya wanna paint your face first.”  

“Paint my face?”

“Make-up,” Jinx offered, waving a hand, “Lipstick, eyeliner, any of that. Not that you have to or anything, I was just offering if you wanted it.”

Raven brows shifted slightly, and she looked back to the dresser; Jinx could practically see her hone in on the box scattered amongst the beauty products.

“That… sounds familiar. A bit.”

Jinx slid off the bed and walked over.

“Here, let me do you up; it’s been forever since I’ve had another girl to dress up.”

Raven stepped back, and there was a brief moment of what looked to be alarm written across her features, but it passed quickly and to Jinx’s surprise, Raven sat in the chair and seemed to compose herself expectantly.

“I’m going to touch your face for a sec, okay?”

Raven didn’t respond, but didn’t flinch as Jinx gently pressed her fingers to the Titan’s face.

She held them there for a moment, and a flicker of confusion flashed through Raven’s eyes, and then passed away as Jinx gently tilted her face this way and that to take in her features properly.

“Definitely a Winter,” Jinx mumbled to herself, thinking.

She withdrew her hand and turned to her box; opening it, she rifled through the contents, pulling items aside, pushing some around, digging through them all until she found what she was looking for.

“Do you want a full face or just the basics?” Jinx asked, looking back over her shoulder at Raven.

She shrugged, which Jinx took to mean as permission to do whatever.

“We’ll keep it light then, I’m not sure I have any foundation your color,” Jinx mused; Raven’s pallor was a range of absolute greys, and seemed to take on any tint of great saturation around her. It was the main reason Jinx had been startled by the girl’s natural body temperature; Jinx was used to warmer things looking, well, warmer.

With eyeliner quickly in hand, Jinx returned her fingers to Raven’s face.

“I’m going to put this near your eyes. Like, right near your eyes. It’ll be fine as long as you don’t make any sudden movements.”

Raven didn’t reply, but she remained in good posture, so Jinx tilted her face again and uncapped the liner.

“Look up,” Jinx ordered.

Obediently, Raven shifted her gaze.

Slowly, Jinx hunched down until she face was hovering a few breaths away from Raven. The scent of the soap lingered on the her skin; it was familiar and thus relaxing. Softly, Jinx pulled the lower lid with her thumb and began running the pencil over the waterline.

Being so close to her face, Jinx had ample ability to observe the Titan’s eyes.

So often in battle, they had been the only things she’d seen of the Titan. Half of the Hive student population hadn’t even believed the girl had possessed a corporeal form. Some straight up almost believed she didn’t exist; pictures and live footage of the girl was practically nonexistent. It had only really been at the word of Jinx and her friends that Raven was just another meta; Dr Light had convinced most of the convicts at large that the Titan was something of a shadow demon incarnate.

Jinx pursed her lips at the thought.

Raven narrowed her eyes. 

“Sorry if this feels strange by the way,” Jinx offered, softening her expression, “if anything starts to hurt let me know.”

Raven continued to remain silent and pliant, so Jinx continued.  

Her eyes were such a deep shape of violet; Jinx noted in awe, they shifted slightly with the light, growing paler and darker as they were wont.

Jinx half expected them to darken to black or flash a vibrant red or else a crackling white; but they remained unlit with power and Jinx was able to view their shifting tints as she worked.

After finishing the waterline, she ran the liner against the lid, following the curve until she got to the natural crease forming the corner of her eye.

“Why was the boy afraid of me.”

Jinx broke her line of thought, but continued to work while she answered; “Which boy? Mammoth?”

“The one the carried me in and drew back in the hall.”

“Yeah that’s Mam,” Jinx replied, tilting Raven’s head at a different angle, “When you’re the only girl in a gaggle of boys lousy with puberty, you gotta learn ‘em real quick to mind their manners.”

Jinx pulled back, sparked her fingertips a bright neon pink with a wiggle of her eyebrows, and then paused a moment to view her progress; finding it acceptable, she leaned back in to continue.

“Mam’s a good boy; had a sister once. He tries to be sensitive about things when none of the others are around.”

“Once?” Raven inquired.

Jinx hummed an affirmative; “I’m afraid most of us don’t have pretty stories Sweetheart.”     

Raven went silent again and Jinx paused to rub her cheek affectionately.

“It’s okay, ain’t nothing wrong with being curious.”

Jinx smiled warmly for her, and Raven offered a hesitant upturn of her lips after a lingering moment.

Jinx set to work on Raven’s upper lid, and tilted the Titan’s face once more. Her slow but steady pace served two purposes, she reflected, both to give her the satisfaction of a job well done, and, more importantly, build up the Titan’s foundation of trust with her.

She doubted one friendly makeover would seal the deal, but from the way the Titan was steadily leaning into her touch, she had a hunch that she had chosen a good place to start.

“So he wasn’t afraid of me then.”

“It’s more of a, afraid of what you could do if you got mad at him more than anything else,” Jinx replied; “I set strict rules about towels and rooms and things. Why?”

When Raven didn’t reply, Jinx tilted her face to meets hers and waited; again, she made made soothing circles on the Titan’s cheek with her thumb.

“I… think I’m used to people being afraid of me.”

Jinx nodded, “Before you joined us, you used your enemies' fears to your advantage. Everyone knows not to cross you proper. You were fair and far more respectful than most of the Caped Crusaders so you got a lot of respect for that, and you gave off the implication that your niceties had specific limits so that respect was pretty well respected.”

“I was cold-hearted then.”

“Nah, you were just firm;” Jinx replied shaking her head, “You didn’t mind stuff like burglary or anything that didn’t harm anyone directly but, when it came to stuff done with specific malicious intent, you threw off the kid gloves. Nothing wrong with that.”

“How did I know who deserved what?”

Jinx inhaled a breath and ran her tongue across her teeth; “Well, everyone’s got their own system of morality. You make it up as you go. Somewhere along the lines you decided what crime was worthy of what kinda force. A lot of it was probably based around how you were brought up and the people you surrounded yourself with.”

“Surrounded is past tense; as in, whoever they were I am no longer with them.”

Jinx nodded; “You used play on a different team. The Titans. They, well,” she started, “They seemed to be generally alright kids, as much as we’ve seen of them over on our side of the tracks. Very cookie-cutter gung-ho ‘justice for all, one pizza slice at a time’ kind of folks;” Jinx offered before wincing, “They just… never came across as the kids of people who see the world as the kids this side of the track do. Thus our conflicts.”

“Are you saying that because you believe it or because you don’t want me to feel guilty for having been among them.”

“Honey, all of us have done stuff we aren’t proud of, and honestly, wanting to help people really is like, a good hearted thing. It’s just, not all of us were born… lucky... enough to get dealt a good deck. Most of us have to scrape by with whatever we can make available and hope for the best. And there's like, bad people who do good things and good people that do bad things and we could get into a whole philosophical spiral about it all but, before I lose my point entirely, the main thing is as long as you’re happy,” she continued, looking Raven dead in the eyes, “That’s all that really matters.”

Raven didn’t reply, but Jinx wasn’t expecting one. She went back to lining the girl’s eyes and hummed absently as she moved to the other side of Raven’s face.

She made it all the way to the last upper lid before Raven spoke again.

“If I was a hero and you were not, you must of fought me before.”

“Yup.”

Raven considered that for a moment; she looked as if she had another question to follow, but after waiting a moment she composed herself again and remained silent.

Jinx decided that blue would be a good color for her. She pulled out her shadow brush from the box behind her and small pallet of blue hued eye powders.

A quick load of the brush, and a light dusting later, Raven’s lids sported a smokey shade of navy blue.

The color really did bring out her eyes all the more; they looked all the larger for Jinx’s vantage point of them.

“Lookin good so far Dollface,” Jinx exclaimed proudly.

She set back the pallet and dusted off the brush before taking the pencil liner again.

“Good trick to know for future reference,” Jinx began as she gently took hold of Raven’s face again, “You can line your lips with eyeliner and then just fill it in with the color. It’s great.”

With that, Jinx ran her thumb over Raven’s bottom lip and leaned closer than she had before.

As Jinx began working on them, they flushed as the light pressure prompted blood to rush through them.

Jinx took note of the way Raven’s eyes hazed and the way she took the smallest of breaths.

“You’re doing really good by the way,” she murmured, “Almost over.”

A blush rose to Raven’s cheeks, just under her eyes, and Jinx wondered if it was a symptom of her memory loss or if the girl was just unused to close contact. Jinx smiled regardless; she couldn’t deny she liked having an effect on pretty girls.  

She moved slower on Raven’s upper lip, enjoying the feel of having the Titan so pliant in her hands. She was having a very hard time not simply giving into her ecstasy and purring.

When she noticed she had moved perhaps a bit too close to the Titan’s face, she drew back. She wasn’t the type of villain to trifle with a girl’s affections; she respected the Titan too much for that at least.

Still, for a brief moment, she indulged herself to think about simply closing the gap with an affectionate heat of the moment kiss, visions of past fantasies involving the Titan ruminating in her brain.

She cleared her head when she realized she had stopped moving, and the Titan was staring at her directly.

“Did I ever hurt you?”

Jinx nearly squeaked, startled.

Truthfully, she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to answer the question; so she settled for for the first thing to come out of her mouth that she realized was maybe too revealing as the syllables finished spilling out.

“Only when I wanted you to.”

Raven pondered her reply; Jinx could very nearly see the metaphorical gears in her head whirling away.

“Why?” Jinx prodded.

After a moment’s hesitation, Raven replied.

“Because I think I could if I wanted to.”

She said the words as if she were a little frightened by them, or else for her reaction of them, and Jinx smiled gently.

“You could do anything you set your mind to, Honey,” Jinx replied soothingly.

Jinx capped the liner and set it back in the box. She fished around for a moment before pulling out a small tube.

She uncapped, swirled it, and revealed a stick of a deep red so dark, it was nearly black.

“Open your mouth for me.”

At this, Raven seemed to key back into what Jinx was doing; slowly, she opened her mouth, and her eyes tracked every movement she made.

Jinx moved slower, feeling no need to rush or startle the girl; she wouldn’t be surprised if the Titan had an overly forward case of PTSD or an exaggeratedly hyperactive fight or flight response. From what Jinx had gathered, she was something of the Titan’s secret weapon and held on a tight leash; aside from an old possible sighting near the library, Raven had never been seen unaccompanied by some of her team, and nearly never without her fearless leader nearby. The girl couldn’t have had many friends outside of them, Jinx reasoned, she wondered just how socialised the girl really was and if the only kind of touch she was used to was of the violent kind.

An empathetic ache wormed its way though Jinx’s chest; she could definitely relate to the rougher side of life.

Perhaps more gently than needed, Jinx filled in the color on Raven’s lips. The color smoothed on easily, and Jinx found herself pleased with having chosen to use her nicer stuff.

The flush across Raven’s face was more evident now, and here was a slight tremble to her shoulders.   

Concerned, Jinx slowed again, worried that she had frightened her; a nasty idea wormed into way into her head, a worry that Raven might have experienced far darker shades of mankind than any girl ought to. With all the villains she had fought on a weekly basis, it wasn’t too far fetched for Jinx to assume one of them had tried something particularly vile. Jinx fought to refrain from gritting her teeth; that too, she could identify with. The streets were a nasty place to raise oneself in.

“Almost there, I’m almost done,” Jinx cooed, barely above a whisper.

She lowered her hand, cupping Raven’s chin instead of the back of her neck.

“One last thing, then you’re done,” Jinx continued, as she uncapped her favorite gloss, “Open your mouth for me again please.”

She tilted Raven’s head up one last time, and tried not to fall into her shimmering, wide violet eyes.

Jinx held her breath, and gently applied the gloss. She felt Raven tremble again as she did so  and hoped the girl wasn’t remembering something horrible.

A slight hitch in Raven’s breath, a sound too small to be quite a gasp or moan, caught Jinx’s attention and nearly stilled her hand.

All Jinx could think, was oh .

Slowly, she ran the applicator against Raven’s lips again, and watched her expression she did so.

Raven’s reaction was both puzzling, and, if she were to be completely honest, more than a little enticing. Touch-starved maybe, Jinx guessed, that or else the Titan was not entirely straight, or even a mix of both.

Again, Jinx reminded herself that she wasn’t the kind of gal to toy with a girl’s heart, or libido, and tried to finish the job as soothingly as she could.

She took a final moment to drink in Raven’s painted face and the feel of soft skin under hers, and smiled.

“You’re beautiful Babydoll, even if I do say so myself.”

Jinx pulled away and handed her a hand mirror.

Raven stared at it oddly, and Jinx found herself gesturing it towards her again after a few moments.   

Raven took it, but looked it over for a moment before looking in it.

“You’ve seen mirrors before,” Jinx offered, “You had one in your room once.”

Raven looked up, surprised; “You’ve been to my room?”

“Your old room, at the Tower. I snuck in once. You seemed to favor the color blue.”

Raven didn’t look to know quite what to do with that information and turned her attention to her reflection instead.

“I look…”

“Gorgeous. Ethereal. Good in my handywork,” Jinx offered playfully as she waved her hand.

“Soft,” Raven corrected, as if the word or her reflection confused her; perhaps it did, Jinx reasoned.

“Well, you ready to meet the boys?”

Raven tore her gaze from her reflection to face her again.

“Haven’t I met them before?”

“Not that you remember,” Jinx reasoned happily; “So you get to meet them all over again.”

The girl definitely looked unsure, but the makeover had left the desired impression Jinx had wanted, Raven looked at her trustfully and nodded.

“Great,” Jinx exclaimed, “Hopefully it’ll help jog your memory. The boys should already be downstairs and you can tell them to knock it off if they start bothering you.”

“...Do they make a habit of that?”

“Billy’s generally irritating but the rest of ‘em are probably just going to be fidgety since they want to make sure you’re alright but have the emotionally expressive capacities of tank stunted goldfish to really do anything about it.”

“Does that mean you’re fond of them?”  

“Unfortunately, yes,” Jinx answered somberly, nodding; “They’re a mess, but, they’re kinda family at this point. Consistent roommates will do that to you.”

Raven tilted her head a bit in what Jinx felt was probably meant to be a nod.

Jinx gestured to the door and urged Raven to pass through first before following herself.

Surprisingly, Jinx felt a gentle tug on her sleeve before Raven’s hand pulled gently at her own; wordlessly, she slipped her hand around the Titan’s and smiled when she felt Raven’s hand coil a little tighter around her own.

They continued walking in silence until the hallway opened up into the living room, where the remaining Hive Five members were waiting in a cluster by the couch.

At Jinx’s entrance, they jumped to attention, albeit nervously.

“Hey Boss, is she uh, okay?” See-More inquired cautiously.

“It’s definitely amnesia, but she’s cool otherwise," Jinx answered,"Don’t take things hard on her yet, she’s still gotta recover. Billy, I’m looking at you.”

Billy laughed and gave himself, and himself, and himself, a high five; the remaining Billy slurped his soda and merely nodded.

“Good to have ya back then,” See-More offered with a smile.

Kyd Wykkyd nodded and Mammoth offered a nervous wave.

Raven didn’t reply, but Jinx felt her hand twitch within her own.

Gently, Jinx led her into the room and turned to face her.

“The boy’s’ll probably wanna get their game going again but they’d prolly let you channel surf if you want, since you’re recouping and all. Gizmo’ll work the remotes for you if you glare at him a bit.”

She winked, and released Raven’s hand.

“I’m heading out to grab us some grub; I’ve got my communicator if you guys need me for anything. Is there anything you want while I’m out? Pizza rolls? Burgers? Spaghetti?”  

“Spaggetti?”

Jinx tilted her head questioningly; “You’ve never had spaghetti before?”

“How should I know. I have amnesia.”

“Fair enough,” Jinx replied, nodding, “Spaghetti's easy enough to make anyway. I’ll be back soon then, take it easy Babydoll and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Boys," she barked at the others, "play nice!”

With that Jinx gave Raven a final wink and finger pistol before walking out of the room, leaving Raven with the rest of the team.

Chapter Text

As if aware of the immediate threat of awkward silence, the third Billy let out a prolonged belch, prompting his other selves to clap in approval.

See-More scoffed and rolled his eye; he shook his head and took a seat on the couch where Kyd Wykkyd promptly joined him.

As the Billys quickly fought for the remaining seats, Mammoth offered Raven a smile and walked over to the couch and cleared a space for her by parting the other inhabits with his hands; he patted the free seat and the others looked at her somewhat expectantly.

Raven took the offered seat, but chose to steadily hover over it rather than sit down directly.

The boys counted it as a victory and turned on the television; it came to life with a low hum and a flickering of static and then illuminated the room with its picture perfect high definition and surround sound quality.

“Nice,” Raven offered.

“Thanks, I tweaked it awhile back,” Gizmo replied proudly, “We get all the channels we want, High Def, Low Def, Underground, and regular! Even stuff from other countries; and we like, have a practically unlimited recording storage space for this baby so we never have to miss a second if we don't want to. It’s pretty sweet.”

“So you’re really good with electronics then.”

Gizmo scoffed; “Good? I’m great. I mean that, I can invent anything anytime, anyplace. I make MacGyver look like a wannabe. Anything that can be invented? I can make it. You name it? I can build it, fix it-”

“Break it, bought it,” Mammoth interjected lazily.

“HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER,” the Billy on the farthest end of the couch shouted as she stood up; Kyd Wykkyd pulled him back to his seat while the two Billys in the middle of the couch snickered.

Raven eyed him curiously.

“It’s a song,” Mammoth offered with a shrug.

Gizmo huffed and adjusted his seat; “Anyway, I’m the tech man of the group.”

The second Billy chuckled under his breath; “Pffft, man .”  

“You must have a very deep well of dedication within you, to stick to your inventions from the blueprints up. I imagine it wouldn’t be easy to stick to an idea long enough to see it through the planning and prototypes stages all the way to the final products.”

Gizmo’s eyes widened a bit before he hastily nodded and grimaced.

“Man, you don’t even know,” he groaned, “I gotta invent new shit for these guys practically every week just to keep one step ahead of those lousy good for nothing Titans.”

“And don’t forget your Hive Homework,” See-More added; the Billys nodded

“Yeah that too. It’s like my shits the best around so it’s always in top demand,” Gizmo boasted with more than a touch of exhaustion; “And because these ungrateful bugger shitting ingrates totalled my last batch of stunners,” Gizmo continued as he jerked a thumb in the Billys’ directions, “I gotta reinvent my spark balls from the bottoms up.”

“Dude, phrasing,” See-More said, grinning.

Mammoth reached over raven with one arm to stop Gizmo from launching himself at the boy; they both grinned as Gizmo flailed curses and fists harmlessly in the air for a few seconds before Mammoth set him back down.

“So what can the rest of you do?” Raven asked.

“Well little lady,” Billy declared, shoving himself, himself, himself and See-More to either side of him; his clones jumped up and jumped back into him, condensing into a single Billy and then one by one, jumped out and copied themselves until there were ten, then twenty Billys; “You might say I’m a somethin’ of’a mitosis marvel myself.”

“Well said Billy,” the nearest Billy to him congratulated, shaking his hand.

“Thank you Billy,” he answered, creating a chain reaction of Billys thanking themselves; a new Billy seemed to appear every few seconds.

“His telomeres must be astoundingly long,” Raven mused, watching them.

“Girl, you know it,” one of the Billy’s replied, sliding up to her and winking.

“Stuff it up your ass buttwipe,” Gizmo snapped exasperatedly, “She was talking about your DNA, not your nonexistent dick.”

Billy frowned and several of him huffed as he began condensing again.

“What’s a telo-gnome?” Mammoth asked, catching their attention.

“The bit that says how many times a cell can replicate itself before it explodes or whatever,” Gizmo offered.

“If his replication ability is centered around his cells,” Raven whispered aloud, “it stands to reason that one day he’ll reach the limit of his cellular capacity and-”

She stopped short, taking note of the boy’s frightened faces.  

“Nevermind.”

“No, go on,” Billy prompted, “What’s gonna happen to me Doc.”

“Well,” Raven offered, “When the telomeres run out, you basically get older faster until you die.”

The Billys condensed back into three individuals and clung to each other.

“So you remember that and not spaghetti,” See-More asked in disbelief.

Raven shrugged.

“I think I’ve been called a buzz-killer before,” she offered as she shrunk into herself and dropped down onto the couch.

“It’s cool,” Mammoth replied, “I mean, if he can make that many of himself that many times all the time, then he’s prolly got a long way to go before he gets normal right?”

Raven shrugged, but then Gizmo replied, “He can’t ever get normal, he’s a mutant.”

Billy relaxed and the other boys nodded in relief at the reminder.

“What’s a mutant?”

See-More looked at Raven, confused; “You fight metas and mutants all the time! Hell girl, you’re probably one too!”

Raven pulled her knees to her chest and glared.

“Amnesia.”

“Oh, right,” See-More replied sheepishly.

“Nice going nerd,” Gizmo spat, sneering at him before turning back to Raven, “Meta is short for Meta-Human, and that’s pretty much a normal human that’s got enhanced abilities.”

“I’m a Meta,” Mammoth offered, interjecting as he flexed his back and arm muscles, “I got super strength and super endurance;” he stopped flexing and shrugged, “It’s pretty basic as far as abilities go but it gets the job done.”

Raven nodded once, likely respectively.

“Then there’s Mutants,” Gizmo continued, “They’re humans whose DNA mutated somewhere along the way and changed them into something not really human anymore, but like, all naturally, no radioactivity or freak accidents or anything. Just, poof! Suddenly one day they’re just different. They’re way more common across the pond in like England or wherever but we get plenty of ‘em over here too.”

Gizmo pointed and Billy and Kyd Wykkyd; “Those two are mutants; Billy’s DNA replicates itself perfectly and the only draw back is that there can be more of him-”

“Hey-” Billy whined.

“-And Kid Wicked is like fake magic or whatever. I don’t remember what Jinx called it.”

Raven turned her attention to Kyd Wykkyd who waved at her.

She looked at him expectantly but the boy remained silent.

As the silence between them continued, Mammoth cleared his throat and quietly offered; “He uh, he can’t talk.”

Raven glanced at him briefly before looking back at Kyd.

She tilted her head and raised her hand; her fingers danced across a few different patterns before she stopped and waited again.

Kyd Wykkyd looked at her, head titled, before a slow dawning realization overcame him; quickly, his fingers moved through different patterns and motions that whizzed by too quickly for most of the other Hive students to make out.

“What’s he doing?” Mammoth asked at Raven.

She looked back at him and replied, “Signing.”

“Oh yeah, the talk with your fingers stuff. I forgot about that,” See-More mused before looking down and scowling, “Man the teachers should make that a class.”

“So can you tell what he’s saying?” Mammoth asked.

Raven watched Kyd Wykkyd sign some more and then she shook her head.

“I’m afraid he’s gone beyond me, or what I remember of it anyway.”

“That amnesia thing must be rough, huh?” Mammoth offered consolingly.

Raven straightened her posture a little; “I don’t have anything to compare it to, so I wouldn’t know.”

“I’m a Meta-Mutant Mix,” See-More offered, breaking the silence after her comment, “Low grade tho, I gotta use my helmet to make any use outta it.”

Raven turned to him as he spoke.

“I can see through stuff, trap stuff, even use it like an air balloon...” he drawled, tapping his visor, “Gizmo helps me invent new settings and Jinx helps me figure out new ways to apply myself so, I’m versatile in a pinch.”

“Where does Jinx fall?”

Mammoth and See-More looked at each other and then at Billy and Kyd Wykkyd before turning back to each other; some of the Billys shrugged.

“She’s a magic user,” Mammoth offered, “And like, Magic is different than Mutants and stuff. But I think she’s a Meta too?” he asked at Gizmo, who put up his hands and gestured him off.

“What was I?”

This too stumped the Hive boys, and the awkward confusion between them all continued.

“To be honest, we really don’t know.”

Raven tilted her head and regarded them.

“I was under the impression that you all might have fought with me before, or known me before. You must know what sorts of things I was capable of or utilized.”

“Well, that’s just the thing,” Mammoth replied, “No one really knows what you’re really capable of.”

“Yeah,” See-More continued, “You could do all sorts of stuff and like, most of the time we fought you, you pulled something new out of your hat every time. It was like you were holding everything back ‘cept for whatever you needed at the time.”

“It was all black,” Billy offered, “You done darn looked like a shadow fer most of tha time darlin’; a’half of us weren’t even sure you had feet.”

“You could move things with your mind,” another Billy offered.

“You had alotta teeth,” another added; “and lots of eyes.”

Raven sat silently, visibly lost in thought.

“It was really cool tho,” Mammoth offered, looking at the other boys and nodding slowly; the others nodded quickly, catching on.

“Y-yeah I mean,” one of the Billy’s sputtered, “You could fly and look like a bird an everything. Superman had nothing on you.”

“Superman? Please,” Gizmo groaned before turning to Raven, “You were twice as cool as Batman and Scarecrow combined, at least .”  

“Yeah, the way you could pop up outta nowhere and like make the whole room go cold was like, perfectly thematic,” See-More said, trying to be helpful.   

Raven growled briefly, startling them, and herself.

“So I was dangerous,” she said to herself as she pulled the hood over her hair; she slid off the couch and walked to the corner of the room devoid of people or light.

Immediately, Mammoth shot the others a panicked looked and the boys stumbled over themselves physically and verbally as they tried to come up with a correct response.

“Yeah totally,” See-More quipped as Kid Wicked nodded and began signing again.

“You took on tons of tough guys on by yourself all the time!” Mammoth boasted as stood up.

“Yeah, you could take on anyone in a fight and win!” See-More agreed.

“Dude you took one look at Dr. Light and tore that pin brain a new one,” Gizmo said as he activated his helicopter pack and hovered over the couch.  

“You were one hot baddass babe,” a Billy offered, earning him a shove from himself.

As the boys showered her with affirmations, Raven sunk visibly further into herself, causing the Hive members to grow more concerned.   

“Is that why I left the Titans…” she asked quietly; “Is that why they betrayed me?”

The boys looked at each other again and back at Raven, who turned to face them slightly.

“I heard you and Jinx talking in the hallway. You said I was always different from them. You said I was dangerous. Was it my powers that made them hate me?”

Her voice wavered as she spoke, and around her the room grew dark and the shadows snaked along the walls; the lights began to flicker as Raven’s lips began to tremble.

“It wasn’t that,” Mammoth rushed, surprising himself and the other boys, “It was ah, something else.”

Raven turned to face him fully; around her the shadows thickened ominously.

Mammoth gulped and continued, “It was um, it was something to do with Jinx, probably.”

“Dude what are you doing,” See-more hissed, elbowing Mammoth.

“She has a right to know,” Mammoth said, raising his voice authoritatively before he looked back at the girl; the Hive students collectively held their breaths.

“You ah, you had a thing for Jinx, I wasn’t there or anything but, I’m pretty sure it would’ve had something to do with that.”

Behind him, the Hive students immediately began thinking of correlating responses.

The shadows behind Raven faded, and the lights returned to normal as the girl thought the words over.

“That… explains…” she murmured, as she nearly placed her fingertips to her lips.

It was then, that the Hive boys became aware of the Titan’s familiar clothes and facial coloration adornments; Mammoth mentally congratulated himself before he continued; “Jinx prolly didn’t say anything about it cause you just lost your memory an’ all and she’s kinda weird that way.”

“Yeah,” See-More casually agreed, “I mean you two were sneaking off to meet up for a while now so, this must be pretty weird for her with you not remembering us or anything.”

“Maybe she was hopin’ it’d come back to ya all casual like,” Billy offered, gesturing with his hands, “Prolly wanted it be romantic or somethin’.”

“You know how girls are,” See-More added.

Raven was silent again, but lacked any visible sign of distress; slowly, she pulled the hood back down until her face was visible.

She reached down and grabbed at the air near her hips and was momentarily startled to feel air instead of the cloak she usually wore. Instead of pulling a huge swath of fabric around her, she stuffed her hands in the hoodie pockets and seemed to hesitate as she looked back at the boys.

Having exhausted his consoling capabilities for the day, Mammoth suggested the only thing he knew to be a surefire way to engage in a constructive platonic pastime activity.

“You wanna learn how to play New Age or Retro?” he asked, as he picked up two kinds of controllers off the coffee table and smiled.

Chapter Text

Jinx wasn’t sure what exactly she expected to find upon her arrival back to the base.

An angry Titan flocked by an entourage cornering her fellow students maybe, a large mess of unbridled chaos strewn about the living room, sure; even the idea of coming home to find something straight of an A List classical horror movie, complete with missing friends and a girl standing ominously in a dark hallway had crossed her mind.

However, during her trek to the grocery store and back, she could honestly say that not once, not once , did she expect to walk in on what she saw when she opened the door.

Everything being in perfect order. 

Just as she’d left it, the base still remained. When she walked back to the living room, her friends were all sitting on the couch, sitting perfectly relaxed, no one shouting, no black magic shadows dancing around the walls.

Jinx was both floored and pleasantly surprised.

She sighed happily and smiled to herself as she set her acquired bags on the counter.

Once free handed, she meandered over to her team to check out what it was that had prompted the boys to chill out for once.

She leaned over the back of the couch and saw Raven sitting on the floor in front of the T.V. there was a controller in her hands and she seemed enraptured by the swirling glowing creature on the screen.

“Flow?” Jinx asked, recognizing the game from her inventory.

“She likes the artsy ones and the gory ones,” Mammoth offered absently.

“She got too into Super Meat Boy 3 to let her keep at it,” See-More added.

“We all did,” Gizmo said remorsefully; Kyd Wykkyd crossed his arms as the Billys nodded solemnly.

“Okaaay then,” Jinx drawled before looking at Raven; “You alright there Sunshine?”

Raven snapped around, glancing at her from over her shoulder; Jinx was a little startled by the angle the girl was able to bend her neck but payed it no mind being quite flexible herself.

“I am not a ball of sunshine,” Raven replied, her eyes narrowing, “I am the night,” she declared, scowling.

Jinx raised a brow and looked at the boys; “Which one of you fuckers made her watch the Batman cartoon.”

The boys grinned sheepishly and Kyd Wykkyd waved.

Jinx rolled her eyes before looking back at the Titan; “Don’t let them rot your brain Sweetie, we’re trying to jog it back, not melt it down.”

“I liked the cartoon,” Raven replied with an odd inflection, “I liked the part where everything was on fire.”

Jinx looked at Mammoth.

“She was really into metal music videos too,” he said absently, “she’s got good taste.”

Jinx smirked; “Glad you’re having fun then,” she said to Raven before straightening up.

Raven offered her what looked like it may have been meant to be a nod and returned her focus to the screen.

Mammoth stood up as Jinx started walking back to the counter and followed her.

When they were out of earshot from the others, Jinx beckoned him closer as she began unpacking the groceries.

“Did everything go okay?”

“She was alright for most of it,” Mammoth replied quietly, “she gets moody really quick tho and she ain’t got any warning for it either. Maybe it’s the amnesia or something but, I don’t think she was even knowin she was doing the shadowy stuff when she was doing it.”

Jinx pursed her lips as Mammoth continued.

“And her ticks don’t really line up with anything as far as I could tell, but I’m not a feeling-sy pschyo-mumbo-jumble type myself so…”

“Anything you told her while I was gone that I gotta collaborate with?”

Mammoth grinned; “I played you an excellent wingman for you and I won and you’re welcome.”

Jinx felt her soul melt through her body and drain out onto the floor.

“What do you mean you ‘wing-manned’ me,” Jinx replied, giving the word finger quotes.

“I told her you two was an item,” he replied, pride stretched across his face.  

At Jinx’s barely constrained rage however, Mammoth’s face quickly grew fearful.

“I had to say it Boss, she was freaking out and stuff and I had to say something or else she would’ve torn up the hideout and us along with it.”  

Jinx rubbed her temples and exhaled very slowly.

“You don’t fuck with a girl’s heart, Mammoth,” Jinx stated through grit teeth.

Mammoth smiled cruelly; “Technically Boss, I didn’t, but you did.”

Jinx glared at him.

Mammoth smirked and Jinx hissed.

“Take it easy Jinx, she was gonna get pissed at us anyway, at least this way you can enjoy it while it lasts.”

“You’re sick, you know that Mam?”

The boy huffed, “Fine, next time you get a crush on a pretty girl and ask to bring her home under false pretenses, I’ll tell her straight up and phone the cops for her instead.”

He raised a brow, as if daring her to make a comeback.

Jinx opened her mouth, then, remembering that the others were in the next room, thought better of it.  

“Thank you for trying, but fuck you for doing so,” she managed.

“You’re welcome, you ungrateful witch,” Mammoth replied half-affectionately.

Feeling quite no longer up for cooking herself, Jinx sighed and started back to the living room; Mammoth followed her as she walked back to the couch.

Jinx shoved a Billy off of a cushion and kicked him towards the TV as he landed, catching Raven’s attention.

“If you want food you better make it,” Jinx ordered, her tone leaving no room for argument while also clearly belaying her apparent rage and exhaustion.

Billy, and the other Billys, having caught sight of her mood, tumbled into the kitchen and began taking up their stations.

Raven watched them for a few minutes as the Billys started the prep work for the meal; although as far as Jinx could tell, the girl was only tracking them via their many large chef hats.

Then Raven’s eyes fell on Jinx, and strangely, Jinx felt as if Raven could literally feel her emotional state. As she looked at the Titan, a bump to her knee caught her attention; a controller encased in black energy hung in the air in front of her.

Jinx looked from the controller back to Raven, whose expression was visible, but not one she recognized. With an accepting sigh, Jinx slid down to the floor beside the girl and took hold of the controller.

For a few minutes, she focused on the screen, eating tiny creatures and avoided being mauled by the larger ones. She hunted the predator turned prey sized creatures with a vengeance. Occasionally, by force of training, she took stock of the room; the sounds of Billys in the kitchen, the boys on the couch behind her, the girl sitting beside her. She let her awareness spread to the sounds of the air ducts and listened for stray noises without origin or frame of familiar reference, and finding none, she would refocus on the screen. Part of her was still waiting for the other Titans to come barreling into their living room at a moment’s notice, and the anxiety lended itself to worsening her fouling mood.

The longer she sat by the Titan, however, the more she started to feel herself become overtaken by a strange sort of calmness; nearly an absence of strong emotion. She almost didn’t notice it at first, until she was struck by the odd notion that she was no longer upset.

Her mind immediately flickered to memories of mind control and she bristled; she tried to steel her mind from any probing influences. It wasn’t something she was certain she knew how to do, but she felt better about it having had tried.

After a few moments however, she realized nothing felt as if it was intruding near her mind; it simply felt as though the tension was spilling off of her shoulders.

Curious now, Jinx lit up in her pink crackling neon energy, which startled the girl beside her.

Immediately, it felt as though the tension was no longer rolling off of herself.

She let her energy flicker back out and pondered whether Raven was something of an emotional vampire.

“Do the words ‘psychic leeching’ mean anything to you?” Jinx asked offhandedly.

Raven looked at her and didn’t reply.

Jinx waited and raised a brow.

Raven shrugged, and mumbled, “Amnesia.”

Her question seemed to affect the Titan, as she seemed to shrink in on herself.

Feeling guilty, she gave the Titan’s shoulder a light bump; “Thanks,” Jinx offered, “Whatever you did, it helped me clear my head.”  

Raven didn’t respond, but she stopped hunching in on herself as much.

“I didn’t know I was doing anything,” she murmured quietly after a few minutes.

“Is there anything you do remember of your powers?” Jinx asked, figuring now was as good time as any to start.

“I thought I was supposed to take it easy,” Raven countered, her eyes narrowing slightly.

“You are, and this is important,” Jinx replied, “But if you wanna start somewhere else we can do that too. Do you remember any names or places?”

Raven shook her head.

“Do you know what city you’re in right now?”

Again, Raven shook her head, but this time she looked a little upset.

“Ok, so, let’s start from the top. What do you remember?” Jinx asked patiently, “Like before you got wiped out, what’s the last thing you can think of?”

Raven tilted her head slightly but remained silent and shrugged.

“She does better if you just say stuff,” Gizmo offered, chiming in; “Like Billy said something about Mitosis and she went on a spiel about cellular genetics and then went blank-eyed when we talked about mutants and metas.”

“Alright so you just need trigger words then,” Jinx replied, looking back at Raven, “How about I say a word and you just say whatever comes to mind, okay?”

“Alright.”

“Good; first word’s: Tower.”

Raven’s eyes wandered around the room for a moment as she thought it over; “I got nothing,” Raven finally replied shaking her head.

“That didn’t make you think of or picture anything?” Jinx asked, surprised.

“Stone bricks?” she offered, shrugging.

“How about this word: Combat.”

Raven’s brows knit, her eyes scanned the floor back and forth but she wasn’t looking at anything in the room, Jinx knew.

“A blur of red.”

“Okay,” Jinx replied as she took note of the Titan’s reaction; “The next word I want you to think about is: Language.”

Raven lifted her head slightly before closing her eyes; “I remembered something.”

“What?”

“Learning to write and read in English. It was the fourth language I had learned,” she replied softly, still lost in the memory.

“What’s your first language?” Jinx asked, curious.

“Written?” Raven inquired, “A derivative of sanskrit. I didn’t learn how to speak it until much later. I don’t remember what it was called.”

“That’s pretty interesting actually,” Jinx replied, rubbing her chin, “We might come back to that but let’s try a different word.”

“Dates,” Mammoth interjected, “Do you remember dates?”

Jinx scowled at him but before she had a chance to snap at him, Raven replied.

“The Ides of March. Blorthog. Something about December?”

“Oh I know that one!” See-More replied, he jabbed at Gizmo in mock despair; “En tu Brute?”

“That’s ‘Et tu, Brute’, you uncultured spit-stain,” Gizmo corrected; he glared at See-More before looking back at Raven; “What the fuck is a Blorth-hog.”

“It’s… about friends, I think,” Raven replied hesitantly, “I feel like that’s what it was anyway. Or maybe it was bells.”

“December’s probably Christmas,” Jinx offered, thinking aloud, “Everyone gets crazy about that for like, the whole month. I prefer the Solstice myself.”

“What about ‘School’,” See-More offered, “You got anything for that?”

Raven’s face crumpled into a grimace of utter disgust, “Gym.”

Mammoth snorted.

“Okay, what about something like, ‘Astrophysics’,” Gizmo suggested.

“I’m pretty sure I went through a wormhole once,” Raven replied.  

“Once,” Gizmo replied while looking at her as if she had suddenly grown more limbs than normal.

“It was… itchy,” Raven offered.

“Oh man, do that word next,” Mammoth said as he grinned.

“The felling of multitudes of miniature claws writhing under my skin trying to break through and crawl out,” Raven replied flatly.  

Mammoth’s grin disappeared instantly.

“Okay,” Jinx sighed as she rubbed her temples, “let’s get back to the basics. What does the word 'Justice' make you think of?”

“Cannibalism.”

“Cannibalism,” Jinx repeated in disbelief.  

“And doves.”

“And doves,” Jinx repeated, in an effort to follow along.

“There was something about a moral quandary involving theoretically cannibalistic doves. It might also have had something to do with trains;” at that Raven’s expression became riddled with confusion and she mumbled to herself, “Wait; why would a moral quandary have anything to do with trains...” she murmured to herself.

“Alright,” Jinx replied, “I don’t understand that one at all but okay; next word then,” Jinx continued, “Island.”

Raven thought it over and replied, “I pictured a city on a floating rock. The sun there never sets.”

“Are you just fucking with us now or,” Gizmo asked in exasperation.

“She asked,” Raven replied, glaring at him.

“Okay I think this is just about all the remembering that we should do for one day;” Jinx stated evenly, “I’m gonna say one last word and we’ll see where that takes us.”

“Alright,” Raven replied as she readjusted her posture.

“The word is ‘Evil’.”

For a split second Raven was fine, but in the next, Raven started to, in what Jinx could only label as, freak the fuck out. Her hair fluffed up and swirled around, her eyes grew enlarged and white energy crackled to life from within them, behind her light became non existent as Raven’s black energy seeped out of her body to bleed onto her surroundings like frightened snakes.

The Titan quite literally looked as if she had jumped out of her own skin for a split second as she screamed, “No!”

Immediately Jinx lept up to pull the girl back down from the air, the boys behind her springing into action only a moments after, including several Billys that came running into the room to see what was all the noise was about.

Unfortunately, Raven’s powers weren’t interested in civil discussion; as the dark energy behind Raven doubled in size, a large swath of it slammed the Hive students to the ground as they tried to get near.

Raven clutched her head and doubled over; objects around her began to lift into the air and started to spin while some parts of the room began to warp interdimensionaly.  

Raven growled and keened as the energy closest to her body began to solidify; inside it looked to be thousands of tiny red eyes, flickering.

Unable to reach her physically, Jinx shouted.

“Raven, use your words!”

“What words?”

“The magic words,” See-More replied desperately.

The room continued to warp and distort; parts of it were bleached of color, and others were entirely encompassed with black.

“I… I don’t remember them,” Raven pleaded, still quite obviously panicking.

“The magic words, what were those words she was always saying?” See-More shouted as the objects spinning around started picking up speed, “Abra Something Zithy-mose?”

“Fucking Mentats, I don’t know,” Gizmo shouted as his backpack dug its spider-legs into the floor to keep him from being pulled in.

“Azarath Mentrion Zinthos,” Jinx yelled.

Raven began stuttering it over and over, but the energy continued to spread and it was clear that the Titan was having trouble calming down.

“I-I can’t!” she shouted, her voice filled with fear.

“You can!” Jinx replied with conviction, “Just take a deep breath and try again!”

Raven inhaled, unwinding her body as she did so; she shouted; “AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS” and all at once, a blinding flash filled the room as space distorted itself back into place; immediately, all of the floating objects fell to the floor.

The black energy dissipated.

The eyes were gone.

When everything was settled, everything was back to normal, and Raven was hunched over on the ground, arms wrapped around her legs, which were pulled to her chest, her head buried against them.

She was shaking.

A tap to her knee caught her attention.

Slowly, she looked up, to see Kyd Wykkyd offering her a hand with a smile.

After some hesitation, the Titan reached forward slightly to allow him to take her hand and pull her into an embrace.

As Wicked helped calm the girl, Mammoth turned to Jinx; “I don’t think you should push her anymore today boss.”

“Nah,” Jinx replied, shaking her head; “We’re done.”

As she watched Raven sob quietly she said again; “We’re done.”

Jinx walked slowly over to them; Kyd and Raven both looked up as reached them.

“I-I’m sorry,” Raven stuttered, “I d-didn’t mean…”

Jinx put a hand on Raven’s shoulder; “It’s alright, nobody’s upset. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

With how forlorn Raven’s expression looked, Jinx felt an ache settle into her gut.

Wordlessly, she wrapped herself around Raven’s back and tucked her chin against the girl’s shoulder; Kyd nodded at Jinx somberly, and the two Hive students stood quietly as they let the Titan cry between them, the rest of the team onlooking quietly behind them.

“So, ah,” the main Billy stated, breaking the silence, “anybody up for spaghetti?”  

Chapter Text

Jinx rolled over and looked up at her ceiling fan. 

She wondered if it would be worth the effort to stretch her back free of its kinks; as she thought it over she was momentarily startled by her door sliding open.

Raven walked in quietly and meandered to her dresser, the door sliding shut behind her.

Jinx sat up; “What’s up? Something you need?”

Raven pursed her lips before replying; “Night clothes.”

“Ah right,” Jinx replied while nodding; then she gestured around her room lazily; “Take whatever.”

Raven nodded and turned back to the dresser; she unzipped her hoodie and let it fall to the floor unceremoniously.

She pulled off her shirt, revealing that she had neglected to wear any support underneath, and draped it over the dresser chair.

The shorts came off, followed one by one of her socks, leaving her momentarily clad in what Jinx was fairly certain was her third favorite pair of underwear before the Titan knelt down to retrieve the hoodie and shrugged it back on.

Seemingly finished, Raven turned around.

“You gonna be alright in that?” Jinx asked as she looked the Titan over, “You gonna be comfy enough?”

Raven shrugged and looked down at herself before replying; “If I don’t like it I can always take it off.”

Jinx’s brows shot up; “You’re sure about that? With all the boys around?”

Raven tilted her head.

“I mean, what if they walk in on you?” Jinx explained, “Mam’s pretty mandatory about breakfast time.”

“Your door has a lock,” Raven replied, with confusion still written across her face.

“My door?” Jinx asked, growing puzzled.

“Don’t I sleep in here?”

Jinx’s brain faltered at Raven’s reply, which stalled her mouth and caused her brows to heighten in surprise; internally she panicked and scolded herself for having completely forgotten that the Titan would have needed a place to sleep.

“I mean… none of the empty rooms are set up and… I really can’t picture myself sharing with one of the boys,” Raven continued quietly, “Well, maybe with Wykkyd perhaps, but I doubt his girlfriend would like that very much,” she trailed off absently.

“You remember Angel?” Jinx asked, surprised.

“He showed me his locket before the escapade during dinner.”

“Ahh,” Jinx replied, nodding.

She took the opportunity to ramble for a moment, to help settle her emotions.

“Yeah Angel’s pretty alright in small doses, but she was never much of a team player, otherwise I would have invited her to the Team; she’s too busy flying high with a Bee in her bonnet, and they're both competing for some pretty out there jobs right now,” Jinx shrugged and set her hands on her hips before shaking her head; “It’s too late to set up a guest room, so I suppose you can crash in mine while I take the couch.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Raven replied, with a slight inflection tinting her words.

Jinx straightened her posture and crossed her arms; “Well I’m not making you sleep on the couch, you can forget that.”  

“I mean…” Raven started, faltering, “That is, can’t we just… share?”

“Share?” Jinx replied; she bit her lip and ran different replies through her mind.  

“I mean… I just assumed,” Raven replied, glancing around the room as her words took on an emotionless tone, “Our aesthetic tastes are so similar, and with none of the spare rooms being set up, I concluded that before I lost my memories I must have roomed with you and, well, there’s only one bed in your room. Hence, I assumed we just shared it and would therefore continue to do so.”

Jinx felt a slight ache in her gut.

“Raven, Honey…,” Jinx began as she stepped closer to the Titan, “There’s something I should tell you about.”

“It’s alright,” Raven replied, her face softening; “Mammoth told me earlier, about… us.”

Jinx couldn’t help herself from frowning at the reminder; “I’m really going to deck that boy,” she muttered.

“You didn’t want me to know? “ Raven asked as she fidgeted, either from concern or confusion.

Jinx sighed and let her arms drop as her mind raced to navigate the situation she was floundering in.

“He shouldn’t have been the one to say anything about it,” she finally replied after a few seconds.

“So you did want it to be romantic then,” Raven replied, mostly to herself while staring at the floor. She nodded before continuing, “See-More said as much.”

Raven looked up and tilted her head; “I’m sorry.”

“What for,” Jinx asked, “None of this is your fault.”

“I’m sorry because I freaked out before dinner and nearly hurt everyone because I couldn’t remember how to control myself. I’m sorry that I almost ruined dinner because I wanted to make sure the spaghetti was adequately dead. I’m sorry because I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to look at someone you love and see that they don’t recognize you like they should.”

Raven’s face quietly filled with sorrow as she spoke, each word thinning in volume with every syllable until her words were only a murmur.

“I’m sorry that you have to deal with how I am, and I’m sorry that you had to deal with whoever I used to be.”

Unable to resist the urge to comfort her, Jinx closed the distance between them and drew Raven into her arms.

“There's nothing to be sorry about, everything's fine,” Jinx murmured against the Titan’s ear, “It’s alright.”

Jinx cooed at the Titan for a moment and nuzzled her cheek against the girl’s hair.

Raven’s face dipped under Jinx’s neck; she continued her murmurs as she felt Raven’s arms wrap around her middle.

After a few minutes more Raven relaxed against her, and Jinx felt a distinctive thrum along her throat; she closed her eyes and continued to purr as Raven brushed her lips against her collarbone.

Jinx sighed; the mixture of emotion swirling fraternizing with her exhaustion admittedly knocked some of the wind out of her sails.  

Raven stirred, prompting Jinx to open her eyes as the Titan looked up to face her.

“Jinx,” Raven murmured softly, “Will you kiss me?”

Jinx pulled back a bit.

A slash of pain swam across the Titan’s face.

“I can’t do that Sweetheart,” Jinx replied gently as her chest clenched tightly.

Raven’s eyes narrowed and her mouth contorted slightly, around them the lights flickered as she pulled away from Jinx completely; “Am I lesser to you for not being able to remember us as you do?”  

Jinx’s brows knit and she gripped the Titan’s arms.

“No Baby, it’s not that,” Jinx keened as she slid her hands down the Titan’s arms to take the girl’s hands in her own.

“Then what is it?” Raven nearly hissed.

“It’s,” Jinx began faltering; she swore and cursed herself; “...It’s like, if you go out to a bar with a girl and she gets drunk and you stay sober, you can’t take her home and…” she trailed off.

She looked into Raven’s eyes, pleading with her own; “You, can’t just take advantage of a girl like that,” she insisted, “ I can’t take advantage of a girl like that.”

“Jinx,” Raven stated, her eyes bright; “How fragile do you think I am?”

Jinx stayed silent, sensing it was a rhetorical question.

“Do you have any idea what it’s like having no memory? Nothing to draw back on? Nothing to stem the tide of fear or assuage your worries and ire?”

Raven stepped forward, pulling her hands free in the process to grip the front of Jinx’s nightshirt.

“I can’t remember our first date, or if we had one at all. I can’t remember who I am or where I come from, but I do remember you.”

“You do?” Jinx asked, quietly, and more than a little in awe.

“Almost,” Raven admitted, her face brightened slowly she she thought.

“I remember the color of your hair while caught the sun,” Raven mused, “I remember a blur of your Cheshire grin in the moonlight and a flash of pink around your eyes.”

Raven’s face fell back into sadness and the Titan’s eyes bore into her own.   

“Is it so bad to want one happy thing to hold onto?” Raven asked her quietly, “One good memory to re-start my life with? Perhaps it’ll help jog my memory. Maybe I’ll kiss you and wake up like a girl inside a fairy-tale,” she continued, “Or maybe I won’t; I have a feeling my life has never been a path treaded through rosed fields and summer breezes. I have a thought repeating in my head that maybe I wasn’t supposed to live this long at all, and that there was never supposed to be a knight in any armor to save me.”  

“I…” Jinx keened quietly.

“But maybe that doesn’t matter,” Raven continued, her voice strengthening as she leaned against Jinx, “you cared for me then. For who I was. And she must have cared greatly about you, to leave her old Teamates and her old life behind. And here you are, still caring. And here I stand, still wanting you kiss me. Isn’t that enough? In this moment, can’t we just start here?”

Jinx swallowed.

“I know I’m a bad person Rae, but I feel like if I do this, I’ll be, like, a monster or something.”

Raven closed the gap between their faces while her arms wrapped around Jinx’s neck and her nose followed the trail of her throat to her cheek.

“Can I ask you to be a monster then, just for me? Just this once?” Raven whispered; her breath ghosting against Jinx’s skin and sending shivers down her spine.

“Please?”

Jinx felt her heart race as it was torn in two directions; her head was screaming to kiss the girl, to take her bed, ensnare her within her arms and never let go; her guilt was hammering away at her lungs, sending visions of a betrayed Raven’s scornful snarl for a wound that could never be repaired.  

The vision of Raven, completely whole in and of herself, filled her brain. The cloak, red eyes, the massive amount of raw psychic power and her ability to always seem as if she was always aware of every inch of her intentions whenever they were misfortunate enough to find themselves in the same room.

She nearly groaned.

Her eyes snapped open.

Guilty conscious be damned, she thought; she rationalized it by telling herself that this might have been the only way she’d ever get a taste of the girl, who was quite literally asking her to do so; she was already going to hell. She thought she might as well make sure that she deserved it.

Sensing the shift in her, Raven’s face drew back to face her own.

This time when their eyes met, it was with sweet relief.

Jinx wasted no more time, and gently cupped Raven’s face in her hands as Raven pressed her lips against her own.

The Titan’s lips were supple, soft, and warm.

Her lips brushed against hers lightly, testing the waters as their heartbeats provided a steady rhythm that their lungs couldn’t quite follow.

They progressed slowly, learning the shapes of each other’s lips by feel, before they discarded their chaste exploration and replaced it with a slightly more curious one. Jinx put pressure into the kiss first, to feel Raven’s lips move pliant against her own. Raven responded by mirroring her, before sliding her lips between her own.

Raven bit first, a slow test of pressure that Jinx let her measure until the girl understood her lines for pleasure and pain. Her little bites were only nibbles coasting over Jinx’s sensitive flesh; her deeper bites pulled Jinx’s lips, ensnaring them so that the Titan could savor their taste.

Jinx traded turns biting back, and she quickly learned that the Titan’s tolerance for pain was stretched far deeper into the realm of pleasure for the girl than her own.

As the kiss continued to heat, the Titan growled unnaturally and Jinx found herself moaning in response as a shudder flickered through her.

One of her hands slid from the Titan’s face to tangle in her short dark violet hair.

Raven bit down hard on her lower lip, drawing blood; it sent a spike of pain through Jinx’s mouth.

She gasped and instinctively tried to pull back, but Raven’s teeth kept her from retreating.

Slowly, the Titan released her hold and gently slid her teeth free; Jinx whined involuntarily and the noise cut short and dropped into a moan as Raven lapped the injury with her tongue, rolling a small wave of magic against it. The healing magic seeped into her skin and sent waves of heat and shivers throughout her body.  

Jinx groaned in response and Raven repeated the process a few more times.

Raven growled again, as her lip was caught between her teeth; Jinx decided the girl need a new direction to move her mouth in and freed herself.

Gently, Jinx licked Raven’s lips until the girl parted them and Jinx quickly lapped at her tongue.

A bright flash sparked through the room as Raven yelped in surprise.

Jinx chuckled and tugged the Titan’s hair to pull her closer.

Having caught on to the idea, Raven started returning the new form of exploratory affection and dug her hands into Jinx’s back, prompting Jinx to groan.

Raven elected to explore her mouth and Jinx slid her other hand into the Titan’s hair.

Jinx found herself breathless, and inhaled air in the moments the Titan’s lips were replaced by her tongue; Raven seemed to fare slightly better and far worse intermittently. Enraptured in the new experience and sensations shared between them, Jinx could feel the girl fluctuate between breathless surprise and steady rhythmed arousal.  

Jinx lifted her head for air while Raven pressed against her harder, and managed to both reclaim the kiss and increase the pressure against her lips by lifting herself to her toes; Jinx let one of her arms slide down the Titan’s back to keep her pressed in close.

This time Raven drew back for a moment, needing air, but her lips hovered against Jinx’s throat, planting kisses and broad licks before Jinx tilted her head to recapture the girl’s lips and inhaled a hissed breath at the realized sensation of the Titan’s legs pressed against either side of one of her own.

Jinx pulled the Titan up to rest against her knee.

At this, Raven arched back and moaned, and Jinx nearly leaned over to follow her.

When Raven snapped her head back, her eyes were heavily lidded and tongue darted out to wet her lips. The Titan’s gaze flickered between her eyes, her lips, and her hips and her hands came around to slip just under Jinx’s shirt hem.

Jinx let out a breathy sound at the sensation of Raven’s increasingly warm fingertips pressed against her skin.

Shakily, Jinx managed to state, “This is one hell of a bedtime kiss Sweetheart.”

“So you are taking me to bed, then?” Raven liltingly inquired in a voice so smooth, that Jinx nearly purred herself.  

Raven’s hands traveled slightly higher under her shirt as she smirked.

“Why you cheeky little...” Jinx mused, feeling both quite aroused and more than a little delighted.

Raven’s smile grew wider as she freed a hand to tug on her shirt.

Jinx leaned down and Raven pressed her brow against her own and murmured something in a language Jinx didn’t understand against the corner of her mouth.

“Rae, that was beautiful,” Jinx replied; she turned to place a peck on the Titan’s cheek; “what did that mean?”

Raven chuckled and looked her dead in the eyes; “Get into bed and I’ll tell you.”

Chapter Text

“Jinx.”

“Jinx.”

“Jinx are you awake yet.” 

“Well now I am,” Jinx groaned reluctantly against her pillow.

“How the fuck did you get in here?” Jinx grumbled, “The door’s locked.”

“I’m the one who made the locks, remember?” Gizmo scoffed.

“Oh yeah,” Jinx mumbled, “What the fuck do you want.”

“For you to get your lazy ass-butt outta bed.”

“Why the fuck should I?” Jinx mumbled, tying desperately to retain the grasp of slumber.

“For starters? It’s nearly noon.”

“So?”

“So?” Gizmo shouted indignantly; “You need to get out of bed and go tell the broad that you brought here that she needs to cut this shit out!”

Jinx hummed in a vaguely curious manner.

“You gotta go look her straight in her little Eldritch fucking face that she’s gotta get back in her own body and stop messing with my electronics, and then you can do me a favor and sit there and entertain your girlfriend for six hours the next time she’s bored ‘cause her girlfriend is being a lazy sack of shit!”  

Jinx lifted her head from the pillow and looked at her teammate with an almost coherent expression.

“What.”

“Raven;” Gizmo replied, quickly growing agitated, “She pops up in my garage at four in the morning and starts asking all these things about how everything works, and what everything does, and for the first few hours? Yeah it was cool,” he ranted, “But it’s been all fuck-tucking day and that girl is driving me and the rest of the boys up the wall! ‘Why this’ and ‘why that’, she’s like a scarf munching philosophy major for Christ’s sake! She nearly made Billy have an existential crisis over why he duplicates in which direction!” He shouted and slammed a fist against Jinx’s mattress.

“So you get your lily livered ass outta bed,” Gizmo ordered, “Throw on some actual clothes before you mentally scar anyone else, because holy shit I’m going to bleach my eyes after this I swear to God, and then go fucking corner that bitch and tell her to chill.”

With that, Gizmo walked back to her door before turning around; he huffed and crossed his arms.

“And congrats on the fucking sex or whatever. You might want a sweater or something,” he muttered before storming out of her room entirely.

A few minutes after he left, his words fully caught up to her. 

After an eloquent expletive, Jinx accepted that she was going to have to get up for the day. 

Jinx reluctantly sat up, cracking her back as she did so.

She slid out of bed and stumbled to her dresser and picked up her hand mirror.

Markers of Raven’s handiworks were littered in great numeration down her neck, and after a quick glance down, quite a few other places too.

Jinx sighed and glanced at her reflection again.

She wished she was able to feign surprise when she watched the face in the mirror crack.

As she dropped the broken mirror back onto the dresser, she had the feeling it was going to be a long day. 

Chapter Text

Jinx walked into the living room and physically felt her soul dissipate from her body.

Mammoth was running around the room chasing a flying blender.

Six Billys stood in the center of the room, each cajoling Mammoth as he attempted to reign in the wayward kitchen appliance.

Kyd Wykkyd was sitting on the couch and looking at her sheepishly while propping up Raven’s body, which seemed to be especially weak to gravity and oddly inanimate.

See-More was standing mop and bucket in hand, soaked from head to toe, and looked to be quite put out by it.

And Gizmo looked to be having a minor break on the dining table, papers and books spread around him in a semicircle.

“Do I want to know,” Jinx deadpanned. 

“The basement’s flooded,” See-More stated.

Gizmo groaned a kind of soul shattered groan that Jinx knew only came from a thesis paper proved wrong just before its written conclusion days before its due date.

Mammoth was shouting wildly at the blender, which seemed to be happy whirling away midair.

Jinx sighed and walked over, pushing several Billys out of her way.

She watched the blender fly around the room, tracking its course, before reaching out to grab the blender by its cord.

“Babe, get out of the blender.”

The blender whirred and clicked, but remained animate and hovering midair.

“She’s stuck,” Mammoth offered, panting; he groaned and placed his hands on his knees while he tried to catch his breath.

“She jumped into the Frank Machine and got sucked into our electrical current,” Gizmo replied as he lifted his head off the table; “She completely destroyed my theory,” he whined, “this paper is do this week, do you have any idea how much of my grade percentage is riding on this?”

“Frank machine?” Jinx asked absently.

“That thing we stole from that mad scientist awhile back,” a Billy replied helpfully.

Jinx rubbed her temples with her free hand; “So how did the basement get flooded?”

“There was a massive power surge last night, shut down over half our systems,” Gizmo replied, “I got up when all the alarms flooded my phone and I was up all night trying to fix ‘em all.”

“And that’s where Raven found you,” Jinx replied, nodding along.

“I managed to get everything back up and running but See-More had to manually remove the water.”

“Which was cold by the way,” See-More sneered, “Next time the basement floods you can bucket it.”

“Billy was supposed to go with you,” Gizmo replied, casting the boys a glare.

“We were too busy helping Mammy here,” a Billy offered as he patted Mammoth on the arm; “That girl sure knows how to give a good run around,” he belted, laughing.

Jinx looked at the blender, which whirled its blade slowly.

Jinx pulled back her free hand and shot it forward, sending a blast of pink energy at the blender; the hex energy overloaded the machine and knocked Raven’s magic out of it. The blender exploded, sending a smattering of bits and blades out over the floor as a black writhing mass tumbled out with it. The black mass took shape and formed a nearly cohesive avian form.

"Great, nice going Boss," Gizmo sneered, "Now we gotta get a new blender too."

Jinx ignored him and stared at Raven's incorporeal form.  

There were too many eyes, all red in color, and too many mouths, all filled with sharp teeth littered in to many odd parts of the bird too look non-unsettling, but it was Raven’s familiar looking form of magic, as far as Jinx could tell.

The bird looked at her, with a multitude of its eyes before glancing around the room in several directions at once.

The bird sprung up without warning and flew into Raven’s chest.

The Titan’s eyes snapped open and Wykkyd drew back with a relieved breath.  

“How the hell were you not tired,” Jinx asked the girl in disbelief.

“I tried to sleep when you did,” she offered, “But I broke the base and I thought I should help fix it. I had to ask Gizmo about how everything worked in order to do that and then I was too curious to sleep. Mammoth made you breakfast by the way. He wanted to wake you up for it but I told him to let you rest.”

Jinx raised a brow as the Titan smiled nonchalantly.

She shook her head and walked to the kitchen, passing See-More, who dumped his bucket in the sink and headed back to the basement to refill it and Gizmo, who once more introduced his face to the table.

There was a stack of waffles waiting for her beside the fridge which Jinx took happily before sitting down to join Gizmo.

She looked the boy over but neglected saying anything to him in favor of shoving hours old waffles in her mouth.

Mammoth trotted over to sit across from her.

“So what are we gonna do today, Boss?”

Gizmo grumbled under his breath at the thought of doing anything.

“I think we’ll head to the scrap yard; won’t matter if we wreck the joint or not and it’ll give us a chance to scope the city,” Jinx replied between bites.

“You think the Titans will be lookin’ for us?” Mammoth asked seriously.

Jinx shrugged; “I didn’t see any activity when I made the dinner run yesterday, but that doesn’t mean they won't be out looking the city over today. I’m pretty sure they don’t know Raven’s here or we’d have seen them by now.”

“Isn’t going out a bad idea then?” Gizmo asked, having tilted his head to the side so that his words could carry clearly.

“If you want to stay home and work you’re welcome to it,” Jinx replied evenly, “But I got a metric fuckton of bad luck I gotta disperse and the scrapyard’s the best place to unload it.”

“You don’t wanna try your luck at a store or somethin’?” Mammoth asked, “It might be good to grab more cash if your girl’s plannin’ on stayin’. You can just unwind during the job.”

Jinx shook her head; “If everything goes well we can hack a few ATMs on the way home; I wanna focus on just letting off and I figure that once we’re out, we can see how incorporate Raven’s abilities with our own without bringing anyone else on top of us.”   

“Assuming she can even handle being outside,” Mammoth replied; “She’s like a whole different person today.”

“Well,” Jinx offered, “Since she can’t remember who she is, she might be tryin’ on different personalities; she might settle on her old one once she finds it, or end up being someone completely different.”  

“Or maybe you’re just good in bed,” Mammoth teased as he wiggled his eyebrows.

Jinx’s face flushed as she glared at him; she punched his arm, which hurt her hand and made him laugh.

Jinx scarfed down the last few bites before standing up; she tucked the plate into the dishwasher and meandered into the living room.

“Raven,” Jinx called, “Come here."

Jinx shivered as she felt Raven teleport behind her.

“Go grab a coat Love,” Jinx said, turning to face her; “We’re all going out for a bit of fresh air.”

Raven cocked her head before disappearing again.

To the rest of the team Jinx shouted, “Suit down, and somebody grab See-More.”

Kyd nodded and teleported, presumably to find his teammate and the other boys filed out to their rooms to swap their uniforms for casual wear.

When it was just Jinx and Gizmo remaining, the lights in the room flashed before snuffing out one by one as their bulbs shattered.

“Hey, I just replaced those this morning,” Gizmo whined.

Jinx set her hands on her hips and shot him a look.

He grumbled and Jinx added another supply run to her list of things to get done.

When her teammates returned, armored in sweatshirts and non assuming street wear, Jinx nodded as she looked them over before herding them collectively out the door and into the wild known as Jump City.   

Chapter Text

The base was located underground in the lower end of the city districts and boasted three separate entrances to choose from. For their excursion Jinx chose the second tunnel, which emptied into a bakery through an employee’s only door in the back of the extended pantry.

The bakery was lined on either wall by strange and dubious looking ingredients and vials and within the main glass counter, trays of confectioneries and numerous slices of pies were artfully displayed. There was an old woman dressed in purple manning the register who waved at them cheerfully as the teens filed in.  

“Hello there dearies,” the woman chimed, “Nice to see you out and about again.”

“You too Momma,” Mammoth replied, nodding at her; he was standing stooped over to avoid hitting his head against the low ceiling.

“And who's this with you,” she inquired, adjusting her glasses, “Do come here dearie and let me get a good look at you.”

Raven, who had been taking great interest in looking around the shop, looked up at the old woman and then over to Jinx.

Jinx smiled, took her by the arm, and led her to the counter.

“This is Mother Mae-Eye, she fronts our exit and gives us a pretty good discount on anything in the store. She’s a good cook and pretty swell for an old bat.”

“How do you do,” Raven said to the woman, as she eyed the purple outfit.

“Mother this is our new friend Ra-”

“Well bless my little black wand!” Mae-Eye exclaimed, “why it’s little Rae-Rae! Oh come here dearie, Mother hasn’t seen you in ages,” the woman declared; she hobbled around the counter and engulfed the Titan in a hug.

“Mother’s so proud of you for turning to the dark side, yes she is,” Mae-Eye proclaimed as she pinched Raven’s cheeks; “Mother always knew you’d let your evil insides shine through to your outside!”

Mae-Eye turned to Jinx and gave her an affectionate nudge with her elbow; “Quite the dashing young thing isn’t she,” she remarked as Jinx blushed, “Better not let this one slip away dear.”

“Yes, well,” Jinx stuttered as she rubbed the back of her head and side-eyed her snickering team; “We’d better be off then Mom, we got ah, stuff to do, and things.”

“I know you,” Raven stated, staring at the old woman, cutting Jinx off.

“Of course you do dear,” Mae-Eye replied as she patted Raven’s hands, “Mother came to stay with you once, yes she did; and she made you such wonderful pies! You certainly remember those don't you? You did so have a penchant for cherry!” the old woman chortled merrily.

“You cursed them,” Raven stated flatly.

“Now now dear,” Mother scolded, “That’s a naughty word; Mother much prefers the term ‘enhanced’ and so do her lovely customers!”

Jinx tugged on Raven’s arm in an effort to get the teens moving once again but Raven waved her off.

“Do you still make magic pies?”

“Enhanced dear,” Mother replied dryly before perking up, “And yes! Mother loves to keep herself busy! Why? Are you hungry? Jinx!” Mother spat at the student, “Are you not feeding this girl? Never mind that then,” she continued turning back to Raven, “What would you like pumpkin, Mother’s gots lots of kinds and flavors, yes she does! And all kinds of spells! She’s got Sparkling Sweet Carrot Cake that can turn you blue or maybe you’d like some of Mother’s homemade Apple Cinnamon Twist Pie, with the added extra bonus of being magically delicious and half the calories of those nasty store bought brands,” she offered, “a growing girl’s gotta watch her figure,” Momma mused, “why Mother remembers back when she was young-”

“Do you have anything that can make you remember?”

“Remember?” Mae-Eye asked, confused, “Remember what dear.”

“Everything.”

“She lost her memory Momma,” Billy explained, “she don’t remember nothin 'bout before.”  

“Amnesia,” See-More clarified.

“Ah, yes,” May-Eye exclaimed sadly, “The mind is a terrible thing to lose dear,” she continued soothingly, “But Mother’s afraid she doesn’t have anything for that. She can make you forget a bad day in heart-beat, but bringing it back? No dear,” she said, shaking her head, “believe Mother when she says you’re much better off not knowing and take your blessings as you find them.”

“Did I eat something here? To make me forget?”

Mother Mae-Eye shook her head; “Mother hasn’t seen you since you and your old friends made Mother give up her cooking show.”

“Thanks anyway… Mother,” Raven answered.

Mother Mae-Eye looked the girl over wearily with all three of her eyes.  

Jinx ushered a sigh of relief and swatted a Billy to get his attention off of the many snacks he was collecting in preparation to get everyone out of the door.

 Before Raven walked away however, the old woman called out to her once more.  

“Another word of advice dearie,” Mae-Eye offered ominously; “Better to break a frog then to break a leg.”

Raven looked at the woman from over her shoulder in silence as the boys in the group twitched uncomfortably.

“Bye then you old Bat!” Jinx shouted hastily as she pushed her team out the door.

Once free of the bakery and the old witch’s grasp, Jinx sighed and rubbed her face over before motioning at her team to get going going.

The teens began meandering forward silently, each wrapped in their own thoughts and some with snacks procured from the bakery. They walked huddled together, as if by walking near one another made them harder targets to differentiate between; Jinx led the group, flanked by Gizmo and See-More, with Billy and Mammoth taking the rear, leaving Kyd Wykkyd and Raven harbored in the middle.

The group walked silently for some time as they had traversed the streets; Raven looked at their surroundings with rapt fascination while the Hive Students had watched her and scanned the streets for any signs of the girl’s former team.

As they made their way out of the slums and into the sparsely congregated streets collectively called the Downtown, Raven began to falter.

Her breaths came short and she started to fidget uneasily. 

They crossed a road as a bus full of passengers unloaded beside them.

She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, holding her head; her face contorted into a wince, with her eyes shut tightly and her mouth stretched into a grimace.

“What’s wrong?” See-More asked, looking her over.

Raven took a few minutes to compose herself as best she could before she replied.

“I forgot how… loud everything was.”

A large jacket was dropped unceremoniously onto Raven’s body.

The girl looked up to see Mammoth offering her a raised brow.

“That help any?”

Raven pulled the jacket on and slid the hood into place and murmured a thanks; the coat dwarfed her and served her as a makeshift cloak. 

"Better."

Mammoth nodded and urged the group on. 

They continued on in silence, save for the sounds of snack munching and the occasional hiss from Jinx, who seemed to quietly grow more agitated as they went.

“I have a question,” Raven asked suddenly.

“We might got answers,” Mammoth offered, “Shoot.”

“So what is it that we do exactly?”

“That’s a good question,” Mammoth replied, “Ah, Jinx?”

“Technically we’re mercenaries, or, we were supposed to be,” Jinx replied absently, “Our school got taken over by one hot headed jerkeater after another and now we’re pretty much a standing army for whatever asshole feels like taking over the city. We steal shit to pay tuition and spar with the Titans sometimes, get thrown in jail, break outta jail, the usual.”

“So I’m a criminal.”

“There’s a difference between being a badguy and a bad person,” See-More offered.

“Which is?”

“Aw no,” Gizmo spat, “We are not playing the ask a million questions game; you did enough of that this morning; we can take a knee-deep hike down existential mindfuck lane again some other day.”  

Raven frowned, but didn’t press.

“What did Mother mean?”

“She just mutters weird things like that sometimes,” Mammoth offered, “Don’t worry about it.”

Kyd Kykkyd nodded.

Raven went back to looking at the city, and every so often the team heard her whisper fragments of conversation to herself.

The team made it to the upper end of the city, where the population was dense and the cars were whipping past with ease.

Raven watched the hustling bustling around them wearily, and Jinx ignored as much of it as she could.

As they came to an end of a sidewalk, the team paused, waiting for a light to change.

Jinx swore under her breath and began to fidget.

Raven watched her grow more anxious as the seconds ticked by.

Before a light changed, a car came swerving down the road, crashing into a fire hydrant which then burst open, blasting a man into the building behind him, and his baby stroller into the road.

Raven watched in horror as several vans and a truck collided in an ultimately futile effort to avoid hitting the stroller.

Raven flared her powers up instinctively as Jinx swore loudly and took off down the sidewalk at great speed, the boys quickly followed after her.  

Reluctantly, Raven followed.

“Shouldn’t we help them?”

“Why should we?” Gizmo spat.

“Because we have the ability to help them?”

"Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should," Gizmo countered.

"Just because we can walk away doesn't mean that we have to," Raven argued.

"Look, sometimes you gotta pick your battles," See-More stated, moving to stand between them, "we should really let the EMT's handle this one," he insisted.

"But-"   

“If I stay around, things will only get worse,” Jinx stated flatly, interrupting everyone, “I’ve got too much energy bleeding into me; every second we waste debating this, the more people are gonna suffer heart attacks or spontaneously combust or something. We gotta go .”

Raven’s eyes narrowed and she grimaced.

The group moved forward again, doing its best to ignore other seemingly random spectacles of misfortunate events.

Raven began muttering under her breath again, phrases of rhymes and numbers barley audible. 

As they made their way across the city, glass shattered in storefronts, people tripped, animals snapped free of their leashes and ran into oncoming traffic, and through each disaster, Jinx remained hunched forward, as if to block everything out. 

As the group stopped at a fork in the road, Raven's murmuring stopped. 

Without warning, Raven growled, and the group halted; not by its own accord, but by a magical force.

Around them, time seemed to distort and shimmer as it became stretched.

To Jinx, it looked as if the universe had been hit by a rewind button, and forced to move backwards in slow motion; as the pieces relocated themselves in time and space, a black mass of energy engulfed them and spat them out again.  

Suddenly, the group of teens was standing at the first intersection again.

This time, when the car lost control, Raven’s magic grabbed it, held it mid air, and set it down on the side of the road next to several parked cars.  

The man let go of his stroller in surprise, clearly taken aback by the levitating vehicle; Raven’s magic engulfed it before it rolled its way into the street.

Carefully, she set it back next to the man.

The group waited collectively for a few moments, and watched as no disaster took place.

Raven turned to look at Jinx.

“How the fuck did you do that?” Jinx asked, completely startled.

“Time is malleable,” the Titan replied, shrugging.

“You realize that my powers are still gonna fuck shit up right?” Jinx asked, “The more you do that the longer everything’s gonna take and the more bad stuff is gonna go down.”

Raven tilted her head.

“Why not just get it all out now?”

“What d’ya mean?”

“I mean,” Raven stated as her eyes grew black, “if you unload your power now, I can rewind everything so it doesn’t happen for everyone else and you’ll be fine and it'll be over that much faster.”

“I can’t do that, not out here,” Jinx hissed, looking around, “There’s no way that won’t draw attention.”

“Then we draw attention.”

“I’m not gonna-”

“Do it or I’ll make you,” Raven warned.

Jinx took a step back, affronted, “You’ll make me,” she repeated in disbelief, “Did you just threaten me?”

“No, I promised you,” Raven clarified, stepping closer.

Jinx’s eyes flared a neon pink.

“Honey, that’s a very bad idea.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Raven replied.

“Fucking come at me then,” Jinx growled.

The boys stepped back as Raven threw her body weight into a solid punch aimed at Jinx’s stomach.

Jinx outstretched her arms and blasted a thick stream of chaos magic at her opponent.

Raven blocked it by using a black solid mass of energy as a shield; instead of diverting the energy however, the shield absorbed it.

Raven smiled, causing Jinx’s heart to flutter.

“Hit me with you best shot Darling,” Raven bantered with a purring lilt.   

The two began duking it out in the street, with the boys cheering and cajoling them on the sidelines.

Instead of landing physical blows, most of their fight consisted of Raven feinting attacks on Jinx in order to get her to unload as much of her hex energy as possibly.  

Some of her chaos magic did slip off into the city, causing windows and light bulbs to shatter, and streetlamps, cars, and the pavement to contort irredeemably, but most of her energy was siphoned off by Raven’s magical minded quick thinking.

After a while, Jinx ran out of breath and waved Raven off.

The boys were waving at them frantically; Jinx shot Raven a look before they both quickly made their way back over to the sidewalk.

“If you two are done pussyfootin’ around can we get outta here?” Gizmo whined.

“Yeah there’s no way the Titans didn’t catch wind of that,” See-More agreed.

Jinx nodded and ordered them to set off at a brisk sprint.

As the team raced away down the street and into the next, they came to a skittering halt, slamming into each other one by one.

“Holy shit you guys cool it,” See-More yelped.

“Of course, just our luck” Gizmo groaned, “We run right into ‘em.”

“Shut up you guys,” Jinx ordered, “They haven’t seen us yet.”

Down the street several feet ahead, was none other than the Teen Titans, who appeared to be on on of their patrols.

“Maybe we can turn back?” Billy offered nervously.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before the team leader caught sight of them, and his masked gaze lingered.

“It’s ok, we're all not in uniform, maybe he won't recognize us,” Mammoth suggested as Robin approached them.

He had his staff in his hand, but he wasn’t in a fighting stance as he came forward; his gaze seemed intent on Raven from what they could tell. The other Titans fell into line behind him.  

“I’ve got this,” Raven murmured, to the surprise of the others.

She reached into the coat pockets and pulled out a phone.

Slowly, she held it up and tapped the screen, casting a quick bright flash over the Titans.

“Guys look, it’s the Titans,” she stated excitedly, as she pulled the phone down and tapped at the screen some more.

Immediately, the Hive students crowded around her and looked at the phone to ogle the picture before looking up to ogle at the superheros in front of them.

“Can I get an autograph?” Raven asked innocently.

Robin glanced at the others and shook his head; almost reluctantly, the team turned around and hightailed back down the street they came from.  

As they watched them go, Jinx looked over at Raven, slung an arm around her shoulder and whistled.

Raven turned to face her.

“Can we get ice cream?”

Chapter Text

Raven licked the ice cream dribbling down her hand.

“So how long do you think they’ll watch us for,” she asked nonchalantly as she eyed the melting treat for more wayward dripping.

“What do you mean?” Jinx asked.

“Well,” Raven offered after another lick, “If I was a Titan, and I had just spotted someone with a striking resemblance to someone I’d just had an out with, I’d keep an eye on them.”

Jinx’s face paled slightly.

“Shit Boss,” Mammoth cursed, “What should we do?”

“We could always act like tourists,” Raven offered idly; “We already acted like fan girls.”

“Tourists?” Gizmo spat, losing a chunk of his frozen treat in the process.

“Actually that might be more helpful for me. Maybe touring around the city proper will help my memory,” she stated.

“What about the scrapyard?” Billy asked; “We was gonna play a mean game of scrapball!”

“If they’re watching us then that’ll give us away,” Jinx replied, “Maybe it’s a good idea to scrap the scrapyard today.”

“Can you handle that? What about your powers?” Mammoth asked after downing both of his ice cream cones in one gulp.

“That spar with Rae helped a bit, I don’t think I’m bleeding out as much,” Jinx reassured after a quick assessment, “I mean, worse comes to worse, I guess Raven can just rewind shit for us again.”

“You’re welcome for that, by the way,” Raven said evenly as she smirked at Jinx.

“What about pizza?” Mammoth suggested.

“We just got ice cream,” Jinx replied, “And you ate half of Mother Mae’s stock as we left.”

“Yeah but,” Mammoth countered as he pouted, “It’s way past lunchtime.”

“Ok, fine, how many of you are up for pizza?” Jinx asked, eyeing the group.

“I could go from some pizza,” See-More agreed.

“Me too,” Billy added.

Kyd Wykkyd shrugged.

Jinx looked over at Raven.

“What about you?”

“I could go either way,” Raven replied, shrugging.

“Alight,” Jinx exhaled, “We’ll get pizza and then what.”

“We could steal the bridge!” Billy shouted gleefully.

“We did that last month,” Mammoth replied, shaking his head.

“We could go to the arcade,” See-More offered.

“Yeah,” Gizmo agreed, perking up, “I could beat all you pea brains at laser tag!”

“What’s laser tag?” Raven asked.

Gizmo turned to look at her and grinned ear to ear.

“It’s what I’m gonna wipe the floor with all yall at,” he replied menacingly.

“Not if we beat you first,” Billy replied eagerly, “I’m on my team!”

“Dibs on Raven,” Mammoth called.

“Then I get Wykkyd,” See-More shouted.

“Hey hey hey,” Jinx replied, huffing, “What am I? Chopped liverwort?”  

“How about three on three versus team Billy?” See-More offered.

“Nah, let’s do metal versus magic,” Mammoth replied.

Raven looked over at Kyd who waved his hands around.

“Kyd says we should have multiple matches, starting with every man for themself.”

The teens looked at each other and Gizmo grinned.

“Okay, that’s settled then right? A few rounds of butt kicking laser tag and then a round of cheese sliced goodness!” Gizmo screeched excitedly.

“Food first,” Mammoth argued, “Then butt kicking.”

“Lasers first,” Gizmo shouted.

“Pizza.”

“Lazers!”

“Pizza!”

“Alright knock it off,” Jinx ordered, intervening; “At this rate the day is going to be over completely before we get anything done.”

“What about a movie,” Raven asked, eyeing a billboard across the street.

“Oh no,” Gizmo squawked, “We already decided on laser tag!”

“We could split up,” See-More replied; “I mean, if we ain’t robbin’ anything we don’t really have to stick together.”

"Actually that might be a better idea," Jinx said, thinking aloud; "It'd be harder to track all of us if we split up."

“I’m gonna get me some pizza then,” Mammoth declared; “Anyone comin’ with?”

Kyd Wykkyd nodded and moved to stand beside him.

“Well I’m going to play laser tag so if any of you losers want in ya better step up or step off,” Gizmo proclaimed.

“I’ll go with ya Gizzy,” Billy replied happily.

“Me too,” another Billy replied while Billys three through six jumped over themselves to reach him first.

I guess I’ll take Raven touristing then,” Jinx replied, “Where you going See-More?”

“I think I’ll go with you two for a bit if that’s all ’ight,” See-More replied as he walked over to them.

“Fine by me,” Jinx replied before shouting at the others; “The rest of you, if any of you fuckers get arrested, I have no idea who yall are, capisce?”

The others nodded and took off to go their separate ways.  

Chapter Text

“So do you want to head anywhere particular, or do you just want to walk around the city for a bit?” Jinx asked Raven. 

“Is there anything particularly noteworthy to see?” Raven asked in return as she continued to lick her ice cream.

“I guess the main attraction for the city is the Tower,” See-More offered, “But that’s where the Titans live so…” he trailed off with a shrug.

“We’ll probably see it as we head into this next street actually,” Jinx replied, “You can see it from several places in the city, what with it being giant and on the island an all.”

“Let’s take a look then,” Raven replied evenly.

The trio crossed the street and meandered past buildings holstering tattoo parlors, jewelry displays, and coffee shops until they reached an outdoor seating area with a clear view out over the city descending to the beach and the oceans several streets away.

They pushed past several people using the seating areas for its designated purpose as the small restaurant’s eating area, and pulled up to a fence that kept people from tumbling down the steep slope and into the road below.

“And If you look over you can see a crapswell of city,” Jinx proclaimed in a faux tourist guide’s voice, “And if you look over that way, you can see, surprise! More city.”

“And if you look straight ahead,” See-More offered, “You can see the Tower.”

Raven scanned the island and its alphabetical dwelling.

“I lived there?” she asked incredulously before giving her ice cream another lick.

“Yup,” See-More stated.

Raven’s icecream became encased in black energy and held itself in the air as the Titan hoisted herself up to sit on the fence.

“It seems so…”

“Ostentatious?” Jinx offered.

“Architecturally unsound,” See-More offered.

“I’m not sure,” Raven replied; “It’s just…”

“Does it bring back anything?” Jinx asked, “Any memories at all?”

Raven stared out at the tower and the surround sea for a while, long enough for the Hive students to also lose themselves in thought.

“You know,” Jinx offered quietly, “I always wondered if-”

Her words were cut off however, by an explosion on the street below.

“Oh great,” Jinx spat, her expression souring, “What’re the odds there’s another wacko running around down there.”

As if on cue, mad cackling rang out over the city streets.

“Ooo that’s good,” See-More replied happily, “Next say that there should be money falling from the sky!”

“What are the odds that money’ll fall from the sky?” Jinx asked incredulously.

 Seconds later, paper money burst forth from one of the buildings and blew up on a gust of wind to scatter out over the city.

“Hmm, I should do that more often,” Jinx mused.

“Let’s check it out,” Raven stated as she hopped down on the wrong side of the fence.

“You realize we’ve been trying to avoid getting in trouble all day right,” See-More replied, watching her.

“And how well has that gone so far,” Raven shot back as she placed her hands on her hips in a very Jinx like fashion.

“You know,” See-More cast to Jinx, “I think we’re beginning to be a bad influence on her.”

Jinx sighed and jumped the fence.

“You coming?” she asked him.

“Nah, someone’s gotta tell the boys if you need back up or somethin’. I’ll keep watch from up here.”

Jinx nodded and then turned to Raven.

“Well, lead on then Sugar.”

Wordlessly, Raven floated down the slope as Jinx slid down in an avalanche of small rocks and clumps of dirt.

Upon reaching the road, the duo walked over to recently exploded building, which was now exuding plumes of billowing smoke.

Parked outside in a decidedly unsafe looking parking position was an armored truck sloppily painted over in red white and blue.

“Looks like Moddy’s work,” Jinx mused, eyeing the vehicle over.

“Jinx look,” Raven exclaimed as she pointed into the smoke.

Dozens of playing cards shot out of the building and into the air in front of them.

Jinx sparked her hex energy, as if to zap any that came too close, but instead of hitting the girls they past them, before assuming the shape of a man.

And suddenly, a blue skinned man was standing in their place, dressed in a suit and large hat with a bag of presumable money slung over his back.

“Oh, hey Mumbo,” Jinx greeted absently, catching the magician's attention.

“Oh my, a fan!” Mumbo shouted, running over excitedly; “The Magnificent Mumbo Jumbo the Extra-extraordinaire is always available for autograpa-”

“Hey,” he interrupted himself, scowling, “Haven't I seen you two before?”

“It’s me, Jinx,” Jinx explained, wiggling her fingers as they sparked neon pink.

“Ah, Jinx! Yes, this one of your school friends then,” he inquired looking at Raven suspiciously,

“I don’t know if you should keep this one Lucky,” he said to Jinx behind his hand; “She looks like on of those Titan groupies.”

“I was a Titan once,” Raven replied, licking her ice cream again.

Mumbo jumped back with a yelp and grabbed his hat.

He went to aim his wand at the girl but Jinx stepped between them.

“It’s alright, she’s on our side now,” Jinx explained, “She’s cool.”

“Oh,” Mumbo replied eloquently, straightening himself out; “For a minute there kid,” he replied at Jinx, “I thought you had lost your marbles.”

“So what finally made you join the dark side, eh?” he asked Raven wearily; “Undercover mission gone haywire, bad press, bad women...”

“Amnesia.”

Mumbo’s brows shot off his face and disappeared into the atmosphere before popping back into existence in their original positions.

“Well, isn’t that a cat in the hat,” he mused, tapping his chin.

“Say, if you two lovely ladies are interested, I’ve got two positions open for stellar show tonight, whadd’ya say?”

Raven’s eyes narrowed.

“You turned me into a rabbit last time.”

“Last time,” Jinx asked her, shocked.

“Ah, let’s let bygones be bygones,” Mumbo sighed, “Things’ll be different this time,” he assured as he magically turned the remainder of Raven’s ice cream into a flyer; “I just gotta pack a punch in tonight's performance that'll really knock ‘em dead!”   

“Why? Isn’t tonight off schedule for you,” Jinx asked as Raven glanced over the tiny poster.

“Oh you know, these young folks these days,” he sighed, “They don’t know how to really wow the crowds anymore; all it takes nowadays is for a gal to walk in in fishnets and a tophat and suddenly everyone thinks her magic is the next best thing to sliced butter.”

“Sliced bread,” Raven corrected.

“Whatever,” Mumbo replied, waving her off.

“My point is, if that’s really what the world thinks of magic right now, then it’s up to me to set them straight!” he proclaimed as he struck what he thought to he a heroic pose.

“What magician?” Jinx asked curiously, “One of ours?”

“Worse,” Mumbo spat, “It’s one of theirs,” he replied as he jerked his thumb in the vague direction of Titan’s Tower.  

“Now don’t get me wrong,” Mumbo continued, “Her old man was pretty top collar,” he offered respectfully before his face soured, “But that Zatanna! Why, she couldn’t perform her way out of a paper hat!”  

“I fucking hate Zatanna,” Raven spat loudly, startling the two villains.

“Really?” Jinx asked, surprised, “Why?”

Raven scowled and muttered, “Amnesia.”

“Right,” Jinx replied, eyeing the girl before turning back to Mumbo.

“You wouldn’t happen to know any memory magic would you?”

“Oh me,” Mumbo asked, taken aback; “Why? I haven't done anything! -That you can prove anyway,” he mumbled.

“I want to have my memories back,” Raven replied evenly, “Can you help or not?”

Mumbo scoffed.

“My dear girl,” he stated loudly, “My spells are too powerful for the likes of you.”

“That means he doesn’t know anything helpful,” Jinx explained.

“Hey!” Mumbo shouted at Jinx, affronted.

“It’s alright, Mother Mae-eye said the same thing,” Raven offered.

“Who?”

“Mother Mae-Eye,” Raven explained, “She’s a witch.”

“She ah, wouldn’t be interested in performing would she?” Mumbo inquired.  

“I don’t know, you wouldn’t happen to like pies would you?”

Mumbo clapped his hands before Jinx cut him off.

“Please don’t date Mother Mae-Eye, my life is strange enough,” Jinx pleaded.

Mumbo frowned and began tapping his cheek.   

“Say... why do you want to your ex-heroic friend get her memory back anyway,” Mumbo asked Jinx; “That sounds like the opposite of an evil thing to do Miss ‘I’m going to rule the world someday’.”

“Well, I mean…” Jinx fumbled, “That is…”

Behind Mumbo, another explosion occurred, sending forth another plume of smoke.

Out from the wreckage stepped a redheaded man with a dress cane.

“Oy!” Mad Mod shouted, “stop yer yabberin on caom’on then!”

“Do not rush the Mumbo the Magnificent!” Mumbo shouted back, “He is talking to his fans!”

“Fans? You?” Mod replied incredulously as he walked over.

“‘Ey, that one there looks right familiar,” Mod said, looking Raven over, “No relation to the Titan’s I hope.”   

“She’s on our side now,” Mumbo explained.

“Is she really,” Mod replied agasp.

He scoffed and shook his head before shouting, “she’s probably a spy!”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Mumbo replied in agreement.

“I’m not a spy,” Raven replied, glaring, “I have amnesia.”   

“All the better,” Mod replied, “why don’t you be a good duckie and come with us love.”

“Yes, we can use her in my show!” Mumbo replied happily.

Forget your bloody show, mate,” Mad Mod snapped at Mumbo Jumbo; “We got us a golden cash cow r’yght here!”

The two men smiled and turned to the girls.

Jinx slowly reached for Raven’s hand a took a step back.

“She’s not going anywhere, I saw her first,” Jinx stated warningly.

“Sorry to hear that love,” Mod replied menacingly, “But your little girlfriend here has hurt a lot of people and those people would pay a lot of good money to get their hands on her, and I intend to get it.”  

Jinx shot a blast of hex energy into the men, knocking them over.

“Come on, let’s get out of here!” Jinx shouted, tugging Raven’s hand.

“No, I want to fight,” Raven replied, her eyes growing black; “I’m not a toy. I won’t let them push me around.”

“Babydoll we can-”

Jinx’s words were cut off playing cards whizzed over her head at high speed.

Jinx ducked and cast another hex blast at the men who had gotten to their feet.

Raven shot the next oncoming flock of playing cards with her black energy and then formed the black mass into one solid shape in the form of a fist and aimed it at Mumbo’s face.

“Mumbo Jumbo!” he shouted as he disappeared into his own hat, avoiding the attack.

“Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!” Raven shouted progressively; her power shot out in an attempt to catch the hat floating away on the wind.

Jinx cast hex bolts to collide into the numerous flying laser shooting droids that Mad Mod called to his aid.

“Looks like we get to play laser tag after all,” Jinx mused; “Duck!”

Raven dropped to the ground in a pool of black energy and resurfaced behind Mod.

He jumped and spun around, making his back a perfect target for one of Jinx’s hex blasts.

Raven flew out of the way of his descent into the pavement a few feet away as Mumbo's hat returned like a spinning boomerang.

Mumbo Jumbo popped out of his hat and then, shot elongated squirting flowers out of the hat that attempted to ensnare Raven mid air.

Jinx dodged on onslaught of bullets with a well timed roll and used her hex energy to force the droids to collide with each other, causing them to fall into a tumbling heap on the ground.   

As Jinx pulled herself up from the ground, she aimed another blast at Mumbo’s hat, causing a miniature dimensional ripple to flicker through the air.

The flowers shrieked and fell limp to the ground and Mumbo raced away from Raven’s black energy claws.

Determinedly, Mad Mod stood up and pressed the button on his cane; the armored truck rumbled and transformed into a very large robot that looked quite the opposite of friendly and non threatening.  

Raven swerved mid air to avoid getting shot and Jinx aimed a blast at the concrete underneath the robot's feet to unsteady it.

As the mechanical man started to fall, Raven used her powers to yank off one of the robot's arms; as Raven threw the appendage at their two aggressors, Jinx unloaded a hefty hex into the robot, which skittered around the metal plating until it bounced inside the whole of the removed arm.

“Fire in the hole!” Jinx shouted, prompting Raven to encase herself in black magic.

Once the hex energy was inside the robot exploded, sending bits of plating and circuitry across the road. Mumbo Jumbo and Mad Mod were knocked to the pavement once more by the blast and groaned; in what appeared to be a last ditch attempt to attack them, Mumbo raised his cane and sent a flurry of angry doves in Jinx’s direction.

The birds were extremely hostile and Jinx shot hexes at them wildly to keep them away from her face.

“Hah,” Raven chuckled, “I knew that doves were carnivores.”

“Not helping,” Jinx shouted back in frustration.

“Of course,” Raven added as she swept her energy over the doves, trapping them in a black sphere; “Although," Raven mused, "In the posed quandary the doves were attempting to devour each other and not people; however I’m certain that they were meant to act as stand ins for people as to make for a more palatable process of reasoning.”

Raven took the ball of birds and shoved it under Mod’s coat.

Mad Mod shot up as if he had been struck by a cattle prod and started hollering as he attempted to swat the birds out of his clothes.

Jinx shot another blast of hex energy at the pair, breaking several feet of concrete, their wand and cane, and several streetlamps.

Raven used her energy to wrap the pair in a piece of torn robot shrapnel to keep them from running away; Mad Mod wailed as he transformed into an old man and Mumbo Jumbo hollered promises of revenge and return performances.

Jinx sighed and set her hands on her hips as Raven slowly drifted back down to join her.

“Well I’m glad that’s over,” Jinx stated cheerfully.

Almost comically, her face soured as she watched the authorities rush onto the scene.  

“Crap,” Jinx exclaimed as the police swarmed the area.

“Hello officers,” Raven called, catching some of their attentions.

“Babe no,” Jinx hissed, “We’re criminals.”

“They don’t know that,” Raven countered with a smirk.

As one of the officers walked over, Raven took down her jacket hood and nodded.

“Officer.”

“You two ladies alright?” she inquired, looking them over.

“My teammate and I happened to be in the area when these two miscreants tried their luck. We apprehended them, with some minor resulting property damage. No items left the premises although there seemed to be a small monetary loss as a result of a strong gust.”

“Raven! I’m sorry,” the officer exclaimed as she took in Raven’s outfit, “I hardly recognized you.”

“I was technically supposed to be off duty,” Raven replied in way of explanation.

“Right well, I’m sure we can get everything cleared up-”

“Actually, if it’s not too much trouble, can you give a call to the others? My teammate and I have a previous engagement to attend to. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

“Oh not at all,” the woman exclaimed, “we can handle everything from here. Enjoy your evening!”

“Thank you Mam,” Raven replied courteously, giving the officer a slight bow.

Raven started walking past the officers and Jinx sheepishly followed suit with a quickened pace until she had caught up.

The pair made it to the end of the street and turned the corner before Jinx let out a shaky breath.

“Damn,” she swore, “That’s twice in one day we’ve narrowly avoided bars.”

“You’re welcome,” Raven replied with amusement in her voice.

Jinx scowled at her.

“We wouldn’t have gotton into those messes if you hadn’t made us.”

“True, but they were invaluable opportunities to gather important information.”

“Oh?” Jinx inquired, "do share."

“It doesn’t matter yet,” Raven insisted, “Let’s relax for awhile. I think I can feel the beginnings of a headache coming on.”

Jinx sighed briefly and shrugged.

“Alright, so what do you want to do?”

“What is there to do?”

Jinx huffed and thought about it for a moment.

“I guess we could go down to the pier,” she offered hesitantly.

“You sound nervous.”

“Yeah well,” Jinx replied brashly.

“Do you want to take me on a date?”

Jinx paled and bit her lip.

“I accept,” Raven stated.

Jinx blushed and scoffed at herself.

“Come on then,” she ordered, heading down the street.

After walking next to her for a few minutes, Raven slid her hand into Jinx’s and the Hive student was unable to stop herself from grinning.  

Chapter Text

Jinx led Raven leisurely down to the boardwalk which was host to a slurry of shops and restaurants scattered amongst carnival rides which included a large, colorful Ferris Wheel and a fairly well designed roller coaster; through the throngs of small crowds, the pair could just make out the end of the boardwalk, capped off with a small pier and a glimpse of the fading sun over the water.

“We can ride some of the rides if you want,” Jinx offered, “Not sure how well that’ll work out for the other guests mind you,” she inferred with a smirk, “But I’m sure we’d be okay.”

“There’s also funnel cake and fries and stuff if you’re hungry or anything,” she added as they past the boardwalk gate.

“Do you come here often?” Raven inquired as she looked over other visitors in the vicinity.

“Only when I got pretty girls with me,” Jinx answered, bumping her shoulder with a nudge and winking.

Raven smirked and let her eyes wander again.

Jinx looked around too for a moment, and tried to push down the feeling of being watched; chalking it up paranoia and her training.   

“Is that one of those little prize places?” Raven asked, turning Jinx's attention to a small carnival venue.  

“Looks like,” Jinx replied before her eyes widened happily, “Holy shit they gotta unicorn!” she exclaimed cheerfully before turning back to Raven, “Wanna see if we can win something?”

Raven smiled and let Jinx lead her to the shack, which housed a dartboard, several plates of colorful darts, and a nearly overwhelming amount of the same three toys in varying sizes.

“Step right up ladies and try your luck; hit the bullseye and win a prize!” the attendant announced through his microphone.

“How much to play?” Jinx asked as she eyed the dartboard’s distance.

“Three tickets, three tries;” the young man replied, “You can purchase the tickets ten for twenty over at the front desk or,” he offered, as he tapped his colorful vest, “I can offer you three for a dollar.”

“Three tickets then please,” Jinx replied as she fished a dollar from her pocket.

“Swell, swell,” the young man sang, taking Jinx’s dollar; he ripped off three tickets from his roll and fed them along with the dollar into the metal box on the counter and then slid one of the trays of darts in front of Jinx.

“The more bullseyes you get, the more points you earn!” he explained eagerly, “Get more points, you get a bigger prize!”

“Thank you,” Jinx replied politely; she looked over the six darts on the tray in front of her, two of each color in red, green, and yellow. Their points looked sharp enough to stick, Jinx felt, after picking them up for a brief inspection. The dartboard however, Jinx was less sure of; she would have been quite surprised if it had been a normal one.

“Good luck,” Raven offered as she leaned on the counter beside her.

Jinx smirked and wound her arm back.

She swung the dart forward and let it sail; it missed the red center by a few inches, but managed to stick itself in the board near the outer ring.

“Good try, good try,” the attendant offered.

“Practice makes perfect,” Raven offered, amusement tinging her words slightly.

Jinx smiled as her cat-eye pupils narrowed.

The next dart hit dead center.

And the next.

The third dart to hit the center bounced off one of her previous darts and fell to the ground.

Jinx scowled and Raven chuckled.

The next dart hit just outside the red, and the last bounced off the metal ring around the center and landed point first in a teddy bear on the back shelf.

“Nicely done,” the attendant offered; “You can choose a prize from anywhere on the back shelf if you’d like, or play another round to stack the points.”

Jinx slapped another dollar on the counter and young man fed it into the metal box along with three more tickets.

“Hey babe,” Jinx said, looking at Raven, “Betcha I can get ‘em all in the red this time.”

“Oh?” Raven asked in faux surprise; “And what do you want if you can?”   

“I get the unicorn,” Jinx stated confidently.

“Alright,” Raven agreed, “But if you can’t, I get to pick the prize.”

Jinx nodded and pulled another tray of darts in front of her.

As she plucked the first dart up, she let the tiniest spark of magic coat her fingertips before releasing it flying.

It hit the top of the center, followed by the next dart, which landed below it and slightly to the left.

The third hit just barely inside the red on the far right.

The next hit almost dead center.

As Jinx was about to throw her final dart however, she yelped in surprise and threw her dart off course.

She turned to Raven, upset, and glared at the giggling girl.

“No fair! You goosed me!”

“I couldn’t resist,” Raven replied, completely unapologetic.

“I must say,” the attendant offered as he tallied Jinx’s total, “That was the best dart shootin’ I’ve seen all day.”

“Thanks,” Jinx grumbled at the man, “Can we pick from the big prizes yet?”

“Sure thing,” he replied as he gestured to the large prizes hanging from the ceiling.

“We’ll take a unicorn please,” Raven informed him.

The young man nodded and reached up to untangle the nearest unicorn from the heard of prizes while Jinx turned to look at the Titan.

“I thought you said you wanted to pick the prize?”

“I did, but they don’t have the prize I want,” she explained quietly as the man handed the trophy over; “Thank you sir,” she replied before handing it off to Jinx.

Raven slid her hand around Jinx’s arm and led her away from the shack as Jinx looked her new toy over.

“This thing is so fluffy I could die,” Jinx exclaimed merrily.

“Please don’t,” Raven insisted, “That would make this date very hard to explain to the authorities.”

Jinx huffed, amused, and turned her attention away from the toy. 

“So what did you want your prize to be?”

“A kiss,” Raven stated evenly.

She smirked at Jinx’s surprised expression.

“Ah,” Jinx replied eloquently; “You want to find the kissing booth then or…” she teased.

“ Or ,” Raven retorted, grinning harder.

Jinx grinned widely herself before pulled the Titan closer and leaned over to press a kiss against her lips.

The kiss was warm and soft, and sent a wavering, fluttering feeling though Jinx’s chest.  

“Like that?” Jinx asked happily.

“Nope,” Raven deadpanned, “You should give me another one to make up for it.”

“Now now,” Jinx teased as she fluffed her collar, “Only one per customer please.”

“You’re absurd,” Raven replied happily, pulling Jinx back down for another kiss.

Satisfied, Raven slipped her hand back into Jinx’s and allowed a small smile to remain across her features.

“The real thing that’s absurd is this half-baked cop-out of a unicorn,” Jinx replied, glancing her toy over again, “Look at this, the seams are practically bursting out already.”

Jinx scowled; “I blame corporate.”

“Speaking of evil organizations,” Raven began, “Tell me about the Hive. How does a school for villainy even work? Are there multiple levels of schooling for villainous intent? Can one major in villainy? Is there a class dedicated solely on perfecting one’s evil laugh? Can you apply for government aide if you can’t pay tuition?”

“The answer to all those questions,” Jinx replied, “Is an underwhelming 'pretty much'; cults and churches and schools of villainy fly under the radar for a lot of government type shit because the governments and corporations want to use those avenues as resources on the down low,” Jinx explained, “The whole reason the Hive was allowed to exist in Jump City to begin with is because it was a quiet place where no one would suspect anyone’s involvement or want to harvest a crap-ton of child soldiers for their secret undercover ops.”

“The government wanted to use children as soldiers?”

“Super children, and still wants,” Jinx corrected, “As mutants and meta kids, we weren’t really like, normal kids or anything, and their philosophy on such things is, if they don’t use ‘em, someone else will or worse, those kids will grow up rogue and uncontrolled.”

Jinx turned to look at Raven as she added, “Governments don’t like having a super powered population that they can’t control. They already don’t like having an ordinary population that has access to any and every nugget of information known to mankind right at their fingertips.”

“Do you distrust the government because you became a villain,” Raven inquired, “or did you become a villain because you distrust the government?”

“Both I guess,” Jinx admitted with a shrug; “I mean, there’s a shit-ton of problems with our society that our government doesn’t care about because the only thing it does care about is the corporations. The corporations therefore control the people and the corporations get to say what is and what isn’t allowed based on what makes them the most money.”  

“That doesn’t sound like a very sound governing practice.”

“No it doesn’t does it,” Jinx mused.

She chuckled and looked back at Raven.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on a tangent or anything.”

“It’s alright. I like learning,” Raven replied, “Furthermore I like hearing you talk about things you’re passionate about.”

“Passionate?” Jinx scoffed, “Honey you should hear me talk about society’s need for intersectional feminism sometime, I’ll rant your ear off for hours if you let me.”

“I’d like that,” Raven replied.

Jinx felt heat rise to her cheeks as she hastily looked around the venues.

“So does anything here strike your fancy?” Jinx asked as she scanned the establishments for anything interesting.

“Besides you, you mean,” Raven teased.

Jinx grimaced in an effort to hide her spreading blush.

“You’re cute when you’re trying to look intimidating.”

“Now listen here,” Jinx warned indignantly, “I’m not cute, I’m terrifying.”

“Of course.”

“I’m a Grade A hardened criminal!” Jinx protested.

“Absolutely.”

“I’ve done time in jail!” she insisted.

“Quite a true fact, that.”

Jinx pouted.

“I’m a badass.”

Raven smiled and hummed pleasantly.

Jinx huffed temporarily accepted her loss of her intimidation factor.

“Besides me,” Jinx exhaled after a few minutes of wandering, “Is there anything here you want to do.”

Raven looked around and shrugged a shoulder.

“We could check out the maze of funhouse mirrors.”

“Sure,” Jinx replied sourly, “If you don’t mind my powers breaking each one we pass.”

“Would your powers break the mirrors we’d be looking at,” Raven asked, “Or the ones other people would be looking at, because I would find that highly amusing. Especially if you made jokes about their appearances being the cause of the mirrors’ demises.”

“See-More was right wasn’t he,” Jinx mused, “We really are becoming a bad influence on you.”

Raven smirked again.

“Alright, how about we grab a soda or something and go from there,” Jinx offered as she caught sight of a vendor.

Raven remained silent and Jinx led her to the concession stand.

“What kind?” Jinx asked, casting her a glance.

“What kinds do you enjoy?”

“I prefer root-beer and cream soda myself.”

“Cream soda then,” Raven replied.

“Alright,” Jinx answered; she bought large cream soda from the vendor and plucked two straws and a napkin from the buckets on the cart. After popping the wrappers off the straws, she stuffed them in cup’s lid and wrapped the napkin around cup to make it nicer to hold.

The pair of them meandered through the crowds of people for awhile longer, sipping from the soda intermittently, and stealing glances and grins at each other as they went along.

Gently, Raven pulled Jinx over to the side of the pier and floated up to the top of the railing to sit and looked at Jinx and smiled softly.

Jinx grinned and climbed up after her.

After settling in her seat Jinx took Raven’s hand back in her own as Raven held the soda with the other.  

Raven sipped it and Jinx took a moment to appreciate the sunset’s array of colors washing over the Titan’s face.

“Do you think we’re still being watched?” Raven asked softly.

“Well I mean, we’re both hella hot so, I don’t know, probably?” Jinx replied, trying to lighten the mood.

“I mean, I haven't seen anything or anyone following us,” Jinx continued, taking in Raven's expression, “But then again I haven't really been looking either.”

“Tsk tsk,” Raven replied, “That sounds like you’re getting sloppy.”

“Darling, if there’s one thing I ain’t, it’s sloppy,” Jinx boasted as she wiggled her eyebrows.

Raven smiled and rolled her eyes; the comment seemed to tide the Titan over for a moment, and she briefly nursed the soda again.  

Jinx leaned over to to take a sip from her straw before Raven caught her attention with another question.

“Hey Jinx,” Raven asked quietly, “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah,” Jinx replied as her heart fluttered strangely once more.

Raven turned to look at her; “If life at the Hive was hard, why didn’t you ever just leave it? Or take it over yourself?”

Jinx sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

“Truth is,” Jinx explained, “We couldn’t, not really. You see most of the kids that attend the Academy and places like don’t have anywhere else to go. I managed to talk my way into getting the old base we did cause it just so happened to not be in use and me and the boys were the top students during one of the take-overs. Gave it to us as sort of a school project type thing. Practice for the big time, ya know? Or at least, that’s how I convinced them to let us use it anyway.”

“And you couldn't take the other kids with you?”

“Most of them didn’t want to come, even if we had been allowed to bring as many as we wanted,” Jinx replied, “And a lot of 'em simply got too brainwashed over the years to really be considered people anymore, and a lot of them simply just aren't’... worth saving anymore, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“And the takeover?”

Jinx shook her head.

“It’s not that simple sweetheart,” Jinx continued, “I mean sure, I could probably lead the students in a coup and overthrow a headmaster sure, but I wouldn’t have the legal standing to turn the Academy into an actual mercenary school again. I don’t have a normal legal identity. I don’t have a degree in child psychology. I don't even a degree in teaching.”

Raven looked away, downcasted.

“I’m sorry Dollface,” Jinx offered quietly, “I know you’re probably used to stories with happier endings.”   

“No,” Raven replied quietly, “I’m really not.”

Raven nursed the soda again and seemed to lose herself in thought.

Jinx felt a painful twist in her gut and frowned.

She took a deep breath.

“Hey um, Raven,” she began unsteadily, “I’ve… got something I want to tell you.”

“Is it unpleasant?”

“Yeah,” Jinx admitted, hanging her head slightly.

“Then it can wait.”

“How long,” Jinx asked quietly.

Raven closed her eyes and leaned her head back until she was facing the sky.

“Forever?” she replied, devoid of emotion.

Jinx shook her head; “Sorry darling,” she apologized, “But it’s important. It’s something I really gotta say.”

Raven sighed and looked down.

“Alright,” she began,” but let me say something first.”

“Okay,” Jinx replied, nodding once; she felt she owed the Titan that much.

Raven took a sip from the soda and set it on the rail beside her and turned to face Jinx completely.

“I lied too.”

Chapter Text

“What do you mean, ‘you lied too’?” Jinx asked, taken aback. 

“I mean,” Raven extrapolated, “that I lied. To you. Your friends. I let you believe an assumption steeped in falsehood.”

“I get that part,” Jinx replied, her eyes narrowing slightly, “But what about?”

“Omg,” Jinx gasped, cutting off Raven’s reply momentarily as she nearly jumped to her feet while her expression took on a horrified hue, “ Were you trying to honeypot us?”

“No it wasn’t like that,” Raven rushed; she looked up at Jinx with a pleading expression, “It’s… difficult for me to explain; I was never one to really… open up, but,” Raven began as she took another deep breath to steady herself.

“I didn’t stay in order to toy with you or your friends’ emotions. I wasn’t trying to… scout information or infiltrate your team or anything, I…” Raven exhaled, “When you brought me to your base I knew that none of you were being quite honest with me about something, but every reason you gave me,” Raven explained, “Made a lot of... plausible sense. I just… assumed what you told me was the truth. You just happened to answer my inquiries with my internalized fears and thus without supporting evidence, I believed you.”    

Jinx slowly settled herself back down as she let the Titans’s words sink in.

“I’m going to need more than that, Honey,” Jinx began hesitantly, “Did you wake up this morning and figure everything out, or?”

Raven shook her head and took a deep breath and dropped her gaze to her feet.

Quietly, she replied, “Do you remember when you asked me to tell you what I thought of when you said the word ‘evil’? I remembered then,” Raven explained, her voice draining itself of emotion with every word, “that’s why I lost control; everything came rushing back all at once and I was overwhelmed.”

“That word,” Jinx stated flatly, “was the one that brought you back?”

“I had a vision of... an individual ... that haunted my past which spiraled into a flashback of trauma, history, and everything else,” Raven explained carefully, “Everything came rushing back with it.”

“So, you just… stayed to fuck with us then? Like a joke?” Jinx asked as she felt a stinging sensation in her chest.

“No,” Raven replied evenly, shaking her head; “After I remembered myself amid that flashback, I found myself in a position where I had the option to just… not let anyone know the truth. So I didn’t.”

“Why wouldn’t you want anyone to know the truth?”

“You see,” Raven offered solemnly, “When I told you I wasn’t used to nice endings, I meant it. I was supposed to die on my thirteenth birthday, at my fat-” she interrupted herself, “That individual’s hands. And I did, albeit temporarily,” Raven admitted, as she gazed out over the sea; “For those thirteen years prior, I was taught how to conduct myself. How to stifle and strangle myself in order to keep everyone else safe.”

Raven looked back at Jinx and winced; “I don’t regret any of that. But…”

The Titan bit her lip and swallowed slowly; “No one expected me to actually win,” she murmured.

Raven looked up, her eyes locked on to Jinx’s and her words grew hurried; “No one expected me to live . Myself included. But I did, I killed him and fixed everything, and I won .”  

“Wait you killed a man,” Jinx asked in a hushed voice, surprised.

“He deserved it,” Raven replied venomously; “And death doesn’t mean a whole lot to his kind, but it severely brought down any threat of him attempting to annihilate all life on the planet again.”

“That’s… fair? I think,” Jinx replied quietly, “So you killed him and saved the world and got to live.”

“Of course, the catch was,” Raven continued as she nodded, “that I then had to actually live after that.”

Raven ran a hand against her cheek and sighed; “That’s something that no one had ever taught me how to do. So I tried to imitate the other Titans on how to be a teenager, how deliver justice, how to be merciful, kind, and supportive of others, etcetera. And,” Raven sighed, “It wasn’t enough.”

“Not enough? Justice and fairness for all is like your guys’ whole thing,” Jinx said as she tapped her unicorn with her fingertips, “Along with saving people an’ stuff.”

“That‘s the worse part,” Raven explained; she turned back to face Jinx and her face took on a battle wary expression.

Raven winced and Jinx practically felt pain radiating off of the girl.

“You would think that after defeating a demon and halting the impending apocalypse, that the least I would get in return would be an apology or two from the Justice League members who forced me to deal with everything on my own in the first place; who told me I was just as bad and vile and heathonous as my father; who, even after years of working side by side with the other Titans, some of which weren’t even human themselves mind you, would at the very least ,” she shouted, her teeth baring as she did so, “grant me the same basic respect as they do the others, but no,” she growled, her eyes shutting tight, “no, that’d be too sensible. The League couldn’t possibly admit to being wrong and apologize or simply, change their views as they learned new information; no, no,”  she repeated quietly, “They even have teammates who summon demons in their ranks as their primary offensive and defensive strategies! So making contracts with demons? Sure! Perfectly respectable! But have the misfortune to have one as a genetic forbearer? Azar’s agony no, they can’t have that at all. Too unpredictable to trust, throw that one back to the void whence she came,” she spat. 

“Your dad’s a demon?” Jinx asked, surprised once more, “So you’re part demon then?”

“What did you think I was?” Raven asked in reply as she caught her breath after her rant, her expression guarded.

“To be honest, I totally that you were part Fair Folk. Like maybe you’d been taken as a child by the Good Neighbors and switched out later or something? Or maybe even a full on Fae.”

Jinx shrugged; “I don’t really know much about faeries or anything but your magic felt real unique and kinda old worldly. I figured maybe that’s why you always seemed like you were outta place.”

“That’s one of the most innocent assumptions about my parentage I think I’ve heard,” Raven replied, amused.  

She sighed and sipped their soda briefly.

“Alas, it is not so; I’ve been running from my half breded blood my entire life, and while it may not be the typical type of demonic most associate with the iconography, my father was of heathenous otherworldly origin just the same.”

“So there are multiple kinds of demons then?”

Raven hummed and closed her eyes; “My father was born of my people’s desire to rid themselves of sinful thinking. They thought themselves above the regular breed of mortal man and sought to elevate themselves above all others in pursuit of holy atonement and enriched nirvanic thinking; they ripped their bad thoughts out and my father those thoughts became. Well,” Raven shrugged, “More or less, anyway.”

“Your people? You really aren’t from around here then after all,” Jinx replied cautiously; “Did you grow up in like… Hell? Or some kind of version of it?”

Raven rubbed the back of her neck and let her nails scratch the skin at the nape for a moment.

“I came from a small dimension tucked away inside a pocket inside a wormhole;” the Titan slowly explained, “It was a place called Azarath. It was meant to be a utopia; it was run completely by magic, floating on a rock amidst a sky where the sun never set. I wasn’t allowed to see much of it, but for the first few years of my life, it was home.”

“You remembered that place first, piece by piece,” Jinx stated. 

“Yes,” Raven replied softly.

“So to be clear, you remember everything now? The Titan’s, the Hive, and... all?” Jinx asked, trying to gauge Raven’s opinions of herself as subtly as she could manage.      

Raven’s eyes clouded with contained rage as they looked at Jinx’s, unintentionally making the Hive’s student flinch; “I remember everything except for how I lost my memory,” Raven stated, “But when Mumbo mentioned Zatanna, I just knew , deep in my gut, that she somehow played a hand in this.”

“Why would Zatanna have it in for you; aren’t you guys on the same side?” Jinx asked hesitantly.

“When I first came to Earth, it was she that turned the League against me, informing them that obviously, I was attempting to lure them into  a trap of my father’s design, and instead of, oh, I don’t know…” Raven trailed, waving a hand in the air, “asking Dr. Fate or one of the others for a second opinion or a gathering for further examination; they just turned me away. Told an eleven year old girl, not used to humanity or human contact or anything resembling non-magical secluded civilization, to just fuck off to the dimension she came from and to not come back.”

“Damn, that’s fucked up,” Jinx replied, nodding slightly.

Raven inhaled a breath with a growl and exhaled it with a hiss; she rubbed her temples.

“So you stayed with us to figure out how you lost your memory?” Jinx asked.

“Partially,” Raven admitted; “But as I wasn’t really thinking tactically. You and your friends gave me an opportunity to just… be Raven,” she whispered; “Not Raven: Founder of the Titans, not Raven: the Anti-Chirst and Harbinger of the Apocalypse, not Raven: Daughter and Disgrace of Angela Roth... Not Raven: Daughter of Trigon…”

“Just me,” she whispered mournfully; “You gave me a chance to find who that ‘me’ was… So I took it.”

Jinx swallowed dryly in an attempt to digest Raven’s admissions.

“So your dad is…”

“Trigon.”

“And he’s the reason the Justice League has it out for you.”

“Yes.”

“And the J.L. member who hates you most is Zatanna, and probably tried to screw you over.”

“That’s my current basis of assumption, yes.”

Jinx ran her hands down her thighs and over her knees as she exhaled deeply.

“Damn,” she offered, quietly.

They sat in silence for a few moments, looking everywhere except for each other, and took in the sights of the lights flickering on and the other people milling about.

The sun was nearly set, and the entire sky was a deep angry red that cast a glow against everything it touched.  

The sound of waves lapping at the pier posts underneath them beat forth in a steady rhythm.

“So...” Jinx asked, softly. 

Hesitantly, Raven looked up at her once more, her expression weary.    

“Did you lie about liking me?” Jinx asked softly, as she watched the Titan’s eyes redden in the setting sun.

“I’m an empath,” Raven admitted carefully, “I’d have been able to feel your crush on me from three cities away;” she began, “Tactically speaking, it made sense to garner your affection to secure my continued safety.”

Jinx took a deep breath and tried to keep her eyes from leaking welled tears.

“But,” Raven continued, surprising Jinx slightly, “As I said earlier, I wasn’t thinking very tactically about any of this; since I’m trying to be completely honest with you.”

Jinx swallowed a breath of air and opened her eyes; she lifted her chin and tried to maintain a disinterested expression.   

“Oh?”

“Yes,” Raven replied nodding; a small flicker of a smile began to grow on Raven’s face; “all things considered, I was hardly thinking intelligently at all. I let myself nest amongst a flock of miscreants in order to feel alive and kiss pretty girls with pink hair and punk rock smiles.”

Jinx stayed silent as she listened, and she smiled slightly at Raven’s flattery.

“I really do remember the way your hair looks in different lighting;” the Titan admitted as she recalled her earlier words, “I like the way you smile. I like the way you’re never afraid of me, of the things I do, or the things I say. I like the way you always pull life by its teeth to make it dance with you. I suppose that I wanted, just for a moment, to be able to say that I was able to dance with you too.”

“Why didn’t you come clean to me then? You could've just said!” Jinx replied as her voice wavered, “I was genuinely worried that I was going to fuck you up forever, you know?” 

“I know what I did was wrong,” Raven admitted, her face falling in shame, “I shouldn’t have pushed you and I shouldn’t have used you; I just… I was afraid that if I didn’t take the chance to be with you while I had it, that I’d never be in a position where I’d let myself have a chance again; so I... convinced myself that it was okay to lie to you simply because you were lying first; I thought if I just played along… it would be ok.”

“I never wanted to hurt you Jinx,” Raven keened, glancing at her longingly, “I really enjoyed our time together.”  

“Are you breaking up with me then?” Jinx asked as her heart froze.

“I… would understand if you wanted to,” Raven offered sadly; “I would be upset with me too.”

“But do you want to,” Jinx asked.

“Azar’s Grace no,” Raven replied hastily; “Even if you don’t believe anything else I say, please believe I want nothing more than to spend time with you honestly; I truly do think that you’re a beautiful girl with a sharp mind who's a fun opponent with a dazzling arsenal of attack, and also a wonderful, caring friend. I don’t want to stop seeing you anymore Jinx,” Raven whined, “I want to get to know you more and do horribly romantic things, like hold your hand and kiss under moonlight and cheat at carnival games.”

“So you think I’m pretty,” Jinx offered teasingly as she fought to regain steady breath; she tried desperately to quell the feeling of hope bubbling inside herself.

“Out of everything I’ve said,” Raven replied flatly, “That’s what you focus on?”

Jinx took a deep breath and exhaled it through her nose as if she were laughing.

Raven watched her, confused, as Jinx allowed herself to chuckle freely. 

“I want to date you honestly too,” Jinx replied soothingly, earning a small smile from the Titan.

“And truth be told Babe, I really can’t fault you for anything you’ve done,” Jinx stated as a smile began growing on her face, “I mean, you just admitted that you stayed with us just to chill with us, and that you slept with me cause you wanted to sleep with me; and as you pointed out, I brought you back to the base under false pretenses in the first place and lied to you about your past.”

“I feel like that's probably the worse out of the two things since, ya know, mine was closer to brainwashing and Stockholm syndrome,” Jinx added as she wiped her face and tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear.

“So, I guess the next thing to ask,” Jinx began as she straightened her posture, “is what you intend to do now.”

“You make that sound as if I have a choice,” Raven replied in confusion. 

“Of course you have a choice!” Jinx chided, “You can either go back to the Titans or whatever, or, you can come back home with me! The boy’s already love you. They’d like it if you stayed.”

“I think the thing I should focus on,” Raven replied carefully, “Is finding out how my memory got wiped in the first place.”

“And why,” Jinx added.

“And why,” Raven repeated, nodding in agreement.

“But you can still do both of those things back at base, where I’ll be, that way we can make out and date for realsies,” Jinx insisted.

Raven sat quietly for a moment, thinking it over.

Jinx bit her lip in anticipation and worried the seam on her unicorn. 

“Tell you what,” Raven eventually replied, “Until I solve this, I’ll stay with you under the guise of memory loss as I have been.”

“And after?” Jinx asked hopefully.

“We’ll burn that bridge when we cross it.” 

Jinx felt a massive amount of tension roll off her shoulders in a natural way and she smiled.

“So does this mean we can finish our date?”

Raven looked at her and smiled.

“If you want to call solving a mystery a date, then sure.”  

Jinx grinned; “It’s good enough for me Dollface, I walked into this fully expectin’ you were gonna toss me into the ocean to tell ya’ the truth.”

“I think I’ll save the kinky stuff for our second date,” Raven replied casually.

Jinx perked up, her stuffed toy nearly forgotten; “I get a second date?”

“...If you’re lucky,” Raven teased, as she slid down from the fence.

Jinx’s grin spread from ear to ear and her heart fluttered excitedly.

“So what do you have in mind for the rest of the night?” Jinx asked. 

Raven walked closer and motioned Jinx to do the same; face to face, Raven leaned in.

“You still think we’re being watched,” Jinx whispered.

“I don’t think so, not physically anyway,” Raven replied hesitantly, “But magically? Probably.”

“Is any of that stuff you told me ok for them to have heard magically or whatever?”

“The League already know my origins, so they wouldn’t have heard anything they hadn’t already known, save for the fact that I lied to you.”

“Would that be a problem?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Raven admitted; “I’m sure they could spin it against me if they wanted to.”

“Zatanna would, you think?”

Raven hummed an affirmative. 

“I want to figure out if she did this and why,” Raven began, “But I’m not sure how-”

“I can help you sneak into the Tower,” Jinx replied, cutting the Titan off.

Raven’s eyes rose in surprise.   

“I mean,” Jinx explained, “If Zatanna came to town to fuck you over, I’m pretty sure she would have stayed at the Tower, or made contact. It’s also where your room is so you could pick up any stuff you need. It’d be your best chance for a starting place, if it isn’t concrete.”

“How soon can we make this happen?” Raven asked. 

“Well, first we need to make a stop back at base for a few supplies and things, but,” Jinx offered as she thought aloud while her smile turned mischievous; “How’s later tonight strike your fancy?”

“Isn’t that reckless?”

“I thought you like the way I pulled life by the horns,” Jinx teased as she wiggled her eyebrows; “Trust me Baby, I got a plan you’re really going to fall for this time.”  

Chapter Text

“So to be clear,” Mammoth stated quietly, “You want us to wait here until you give us a signal.”

“You got it,” Jinx affirmed, nodding.

She looked at the rest of her team and the boys each nodded in turn.

“Gizmo, you got the thing?” she asked, when her eyes landed on him. 

“Yep, right here Boss,” he replied, grinning, as he pulled out a small device masquerading as an ordinary USB.

He handed it over and Jinx slid it into her shirt; she offered the boy a quick nod in thanks and then turned her attention to the Titan in her ranks.

“You alright there Sugar?”

“I’m not experiencing any traumatic flashbacks or anything, so I think I’m fine,” Raven replied quietly.

“Remember, we’re just running in to grab your shit and get out again, no fuss or fighting,” Jinx reaffirmed as she placed a hand on Raven’s shoulder; “No need to feel guilty for that.”

Raven nodded.

“The fact that you gotta sneak in to get your shit is reason enough not feel twitchy about it,” Mammoth offered, earning a few nods from some of the Billys and Kyd Kykkyd.

“And remember,” Gizmo added, “If you get caught, we’re here to give ‘em one hell of a distraction,” he said encouragingly.

“Thank you,” Raven replied, nodding in the group’s general direction; “It’s… nice to know when friends have your back,” she murmured.

“Alright then, we only have so much time to work with before Red X calls it quits and leaves the Titans to us so let’s get a move on,” Jinx commanded, tapping Raven’s shoulder gently to get her attention.

Raven nodded once and the pair cast one final glance at the boys before walking to the tunnel door.

“After you, Sweetheart,” Jinx stated, motioning for Raven to go first.

Using her soulself, Raven pulled Jinx with her to the other side of the door into the Tower’s garage.

The lights flicked on automatically and Raven scrambled to hit the correct number key into the lock pad beside the door.   

“There,” Raven stated, “Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Tower will define you as an unlisted guest and it still recognizes me as a Titan.”

“Just be careful what cha’ wish for darlin’,” Jinx reminded her, “I’m a whole boat-full of bad luck and then some.”

“Right,” Raven replied, nodding.

“Ok, I guess I should hit my room up while you do…” Raven started; she rolled her hand in the air for a moment, “Whatever it is that you’re going to do.”

“I’ll meet you in the main room, be quick,” Jinx stated. 

The pair exchanged nods and parted.

Using her soulself, Raven slid into her room.

The air was stale but not repugnantly so, Raven found as she inhaled the familiar scent of old tomes and incense.

She couldn’t quite tell if everything was where she had left it as there was still a gap in her memory, but everything looked well enough that she felt quieted by it.

As her eyes darted about her room, she began checking the various vials, trunks, and locked books for any signs of tampering.

As she did that, her powers pulled some of her clothes from her wardrobe and dresser and pulled them into her soulself for temporary storage.

She didn’t know quite how quick Jinx had wanted her to be, and she felt herself grow anxious at the thought that she might be taking too long.

Still, after the quick glance over everything Raven remembered ordinarily leaving secured in her room, the Titan felt relieved for having checked.

She gave the room one final look, prolonged, as she let a few memories of it pass behind her eyes; the first moment she had walked in to find Cyborg painting the walls, the time Starfire had made her cave in and buy real set of sheets for her bed, the time she'd had the misfortune to discover Malchior, over a dozen nightmares, numerous night terrors, and visions of her father’s atrocities both real and imagined.

She was momentarily taken aback by the feeling of being home.

She smiled to herself, taking the feeling as a good sign; perhaps everything had been an unfortunate misunderstanding, she thought to herself.

With that, she walked out of her room and into the hall; she had a small hunch that walking though might give her a better understanding of what had been going on within it in her absence, epathicly speaking.   

Everything seemed normal, as far as Raven could sense; traces of Beast-Boy’s anxiety was run of the mill and Starfire’s unbridled emotions were well long past worn into the Tower structure to miss.  

Raven smiled softly once more as she headed to the elevator that would take her down to the common room.

Her smile disappeared once she  entered the transitional device and the doors closed in front of her; there were odd traces of emotion that Raven couldn’t place.

She grimaced; it looked like Jinx’s assumption about Zatanna visiting the Tower had been right after all, she thought. As the elevator took her down, she wondered why the woman would be filled with such thick feelings of rage.   

When the doors opened again, Raven was glad to be free from the confined emotionally packed enclosure and quickened her pace to meet up with Jinx, who was pulling the USB out of the Titan’s main computer.

“Hey Doll, you get what you need?” Jinx asked, not yet turning around.

“I’m set,” Raven replied as Jinx finished shutting the computer down.

Jinx ran a hand through her hair and turned around with a cartoonish exhalation of breath.

“What were you doing?” Raven asked, eyeing her.

“I was checking out a hunch and you’re not gonna believe this,” Jinx insisted, as she waved her hands, “but-”

“You were right and Zatanna was here?” Raven offered sourly, cutting her off.

“Well yes,” Jinx agreed, a little taken aback, “How’d you-”

“Emapth.”

“Right,” Jinx answered.

“What’s that under your arm?” Raven asked, taking note of the white machine.

Jinx shrugged; “A blender.”

Raven rolled her eyes as Jinx smirked.  

“Anyway, we should get outta here before the others-”

The lights in the main room flicked on and the girls immediately turned their heads to see none other than the other Hive students.

Jinx sighed in relief.

“Jesus shitting on a stick guys,” Jinx exhaled, placing a hand over her heart, “I thought you mooks were the Titans.”

“Yeah, about that,” Mammoth replied, “Change in plans Boss, Gizzy said the Titans are inbound and not by car, so we hurried up here to grab your back.”

“Shit,” Jinx swore in reply, “How much time before they get back?”

“About two seconds ago,” a very displeased voice informed them.

Again, everyone turned their heads, this time, coming face to face with a group of very unhappy home owners.

“I don’t know how all ‘yall got in here,” Cyborg stated unhappily, “But I know how all ‘yall are gettin’ back out,” he warned.  

“Wait,” Starfire shouted as she pulled in front of the others, having taken notice of the intruders; “Raven is that you?”

Raven hesitantly pulled the jacket hood off her face.

“Starfire,” she murmured, momentarily overcome with the alien’s feelings of joy; behind Starfire, smiles flashed over Beast Boy and Cyborg’s faces, Zatanna and Robin remained weary.

“I am so glad you are home again!” Starfire proclaimed, “I was most worried about your wellbeing while you were gone.”

“Yeah about that,” Mammoth sneered, “Why did you fuckers leave her lying in the street?”

“We searched for her across the entire city,” Starfire explained, “We did not abandon her, she was simply gone!”

“Wait,” Zatanna interjected, catching the teens’ attentions; “Are you guys implying that Raven is with you?”

“Raven, is this true,” Starfire asked, genuinely troubled by the thought.

“I have amnesia,” Raven replied slowly, “They helped me.”

“What do you mean they helped you,” Beast Boy screeched, “Dude, look at them, they’re bad news! Whatever they did is probably the whole opposite of helping!”  

“Gar, when I woke up, I didn’t even remember what a city was, let alone that I had powers or that I had to control them,” Raven explained, “I could barely form a coherent English sentence.”

“So we took her in,” a Billy added.

“And she’s our friend now,” Another Billy proclaimed.

“Cause at least we don’t wipe each other’s memories and leave them to die when we get pissed off at each other,” Mammoth sneered at Zatanna.

“Hold on now,” Zatanna shouted, throwing her hands up; “I didn’t wipe her memories because I was pissed at her.”

“Holy shit you did wipe her,” Jinx exclaimed in disbelief; her face soured and she growled, “You fucking cow! I’m going to hex you into another dimension.”

“Jinx no,” Raven rushed, hastily grabbing Jinx’s arm to pull the girl back beside her.

Jinx bristled, but allowed Raven to step between the two groups.

Behind Jinx, the boys shifted on their feet, waiting for any reason to stop holding back.

Zatanna stepped in front of the other Titans to stand beside Starfire.

“Look, the only reason I wiped Raven’s memories is because she literally asked me to.”

“Why the fuck would Raven ask to have her brain wiped,” Jinx spat, “That doesn’t make an-”

“I did,” Raven stated quietly.

Jinx stopped and looked at her questionably.

“Honey?”

Raven shook and growled as she rolled her shoulders and rubbed her brow against her palms.

“We… fought, I think,” Raven murmured before she looked up at Jinx, “I asked her to make me forget.”

“Honey?” Beast Boy asked in confusion.

“They’re in love,” Mammoth replied, grinning.

Beast Boy’s face squinched up in horror and Robin raised a brow.

“So you’re sleeping with the enemy,” Robin proclaimed.

Raven looked at him and frowned; Jinx looked at him and laughed.

“You… you aren’t right,” Raven stated quietly, inspecting Robin closely, as she absorbed the surprising feelings of rage and angst rolling off of him; "You aren't Robin."

“That’s cause he’s an impostor,” Mammoth shouted, pointing at him, “Look how short he is!”

“I thought something looked different about him,” See-More agreed.  

“I am Robin,” Robin insisted angrily, his brows knitting.

Starfire looked back at the other Titans and to Raven again, her face worried.

“No you’re not!” Mammoth shouted back, before he placed his hand on Raven’s shoulder, “listen to his voice, he’s too squeaky to be the real Robin!”

“I am the real Robin,” Robin insisted again.  

“He is the real Robin,” Starfire agreed, her words calming the room slightly, “He is just not the old Robin.”

“What do you mean,” Raven asked, growing upset both from all of the swirling emotions in the room and from her lack of memory, “Where’s my Robin. Where's Dick?”

Starfire’s face took on a pitying expression and she frowned.

“Dude, he’s Nightwing now,” Beast Boy explained.

“Headed off to Bludhaven a few days ago,” Cyborg continued.

“Just before you disappeared,” Starfire added.

“I guess that’s why he didn’t recognize you earlier,” Jinx offered aloud as she rubbed her chin.

“Is that why you wiped my memory?” Raven asked, “Was I upset about him leaving?”

“Does it matter,” See-More asked, “Let’s just tell these guys off and get going already."

“Yeah, ya don’t need them Sugar,” Billy  stated, “You got us.”

“I need to know,” Raven said sharply, making the boys grow silent once more.

Raven sighed and rubbed her head again as the pain increased.

“Tell me why.”

“You were fine with Robin, er, Nightwing leaving,” Beast Boy offered hesitantly, “But you and new Robin got into it.”

“Said you wanted to prove once and for all the Justice League wrong,” Zatanna added flatly.

"I don't recall any of this," Cyborg stated flatly, casting disapproving looks over Zatanna and Robin.

Raven shifted on her feet as she tried to recall the events.

She bit her lip as she thought.  

“You hated me,” Raven suddenly started, looking up at the new Robin.

Her expression darkened.

“You wanted me to turn out to be some criminal mastermind the whole time I was with the Titans so you could… what? Secure your place as our new fearless leader? Prove your father right?” Raven growled.

“Raven,” Starfire keened pleadingly.

“You wanted me to be evil, didn’t you Damien,” she hissed, ignoring Starfire’s plea.   

“You are evil,” Robin spat, gesturing at her with his hands, “Look at you! The first thing you do after waking up is join up with a bunch of super villains!”

“And don’t use that name,” he hissed, "that is a serious breach of security!"

“Hey!” Mammoth barked, “We ain’t supervillains, we’re just general degenerates of society!”  

“Yeah!” several Billys agreed.

“And it’s a good thing we’re the ones who found her,” Jinx added, “No tellin’ what would have happened if a bunch of men stumbling home from a bar had found her, or pack of mutant haters, or a real villain like say, Deathstroke. Mad Mod wanted to sell her to the highest bidder,” she added lazily.

“We just wanted to ransom her back to you guys so we could laugh at your ineptitudes,” Mammoth continued, “But damn, I think she’s actually safer with us then you freaks.”

“You wanted to ransom me?” Raven asked in shock as she turned to look at Mammoth.

“That was before we knew you had amnesia;” See-More added hastily, “We weren't gonna hurt ‘cha any once Jinx said you was one of us.”

“Jinx?” Raven asked, turning to her.

“I was gonna trade you back for your guys’ tv or something when we first saw you lying there,” Jinx replied, shrugging, “But that was before; like See-More said. Don’t worry Dollface, we got your back.”

“All the more reason to expect them to stick a dagger in it,” Robin spat.

Raven looked back at Robin, her headache worsening.

She clutched her head in her hands and tried to block out everyone’s emotions.

“Raven, please,” Starfire pleaded, “Return to us so that we may discuss everything and settle our differences and do the apologizing for our mistakes. We want only for you to be well, there is no need to fight among friends.”

“With friends like you guys,” Billy spat, “Who even needs enemies no more?”  

“Quiet, please,” Raven begged both teams.

“I... am having trouble deciphering reality at the moment,” Raven murmured; she looked up at Jinx and then at Robin, “I don’t know who I can trust or if I should trust any of you.”

“I just… want to go home,” Raven pleaded at Jinx; the room’s atmosphere changed as the teens slowly replaced anger with guilt.

“I don’t want to be a bad person,” Raven said to Robin, “I’m not a monster. I didn’t hurt anyone. I didn’t succumb to my demonic nature.”

Robin scowled.

“I can’t trust that you won't,” he replied flatly.

“What,” Jinx spat, “She’s fought alongside you guys for years, she’s saved the whole world countless times, she killed her own father for you fuckers!” Jinx shouted, startling the two teams, “Doesn’t that mean anything to you, you spoiled pompous brat?”

“It proves she’s capable of murder,” Robin replied evenly, crossing his arms.

“That’s going too far dude,” Beast Boy told the boy, shaking his head.

“Yes, Jinx is right in this,” Starfire agreed, “Raven has never given us reason to doubt her loyalty or intentions.”

“But she’s literally on the other team,” Robin insisted, gesturing, “the evil one!”

“It appears that she was only able to be taken to the dark side, once she was stripped of the ability to remember the good one,” Starfire argued.

“And it seems like that’s somethin’ you forced her into,” Cyborg added, scowling.

“Yes,” Starfire agreed, “I don't recall there being a meeting to discuss with Raven whether or not wiping her memory should have been a thing we would agree to do.”

“You guys have meetings where you discuss shit like that?” Mammoth asked, “Hell, even when Sergeant Hive got pissed off the worst he did was cut a dude’s hand off for kicking his dog.”

“Justice is fair, not kind,” Robin stated.

“Well it certainly doesn't sound like you're treating Raven very fair to me,” Jinx retorted.

“It’s because I’m not human to him,” Raven hissed, “I’m just a demon to you,” she sneered at him before glancing at Zatanna.

“Don’t try to pin this on me,” the magician warned, “I only did what you asked me to do.”

“You took too much,” Raven hissed, “You barely left me functional.”

“Again,” Zatanna insisted, “I gave you what you asked for. You knew the risks of memory magic as well as I.”

“And you found the idea of wiping me clean more palatable than intervening on my behalf,” Raven spat;  "You found the threat of me not remembering how to control myself more appealing than apologizing for how you've treated me all these years. and You knew that without Dick here, I'd be helpless against you."

"That's no-"

“You know I already defeated my father," Raven continued, cutting Zatanna off, "That I’ve given everything to this team, to this city.”

“The league, and Robin, have some very valid points,” Zatanna explained calmly, “That’s why you suggested the memory wipe in the first place. I admit it was risky leaving you to chance but,” she added, looking the Hive students over, “It seems to have yielded results.”

“Omg that’s not a proper experiment at all!” Gizmo shrieked, “That’s too many variables unaccounted for to be meaningful! You didn’t allow for other magical influences or any outside influences at all! Where’s your control group? How are you monitoring your data?”

“How can she trust anything you're even saying,” Mammoth added, “At least she can trust us when we say we have bad intentions or not and why.”

Raven sank to the floor on her knees, holding her head in her hands.

The lights flickered ominously and the teens became aware of their own breathing. 

“What more do you want from me,” Raven asked quietly.

Robin stayed silent, watching her.

“Emotional manipulation won’t work on me,” he explained, “Father warned me about your tricks.”

“Raven would not try to trick us,” Starfire insisted, placing a hand on the young teen’s shoulder, “Please, stop this, you are hurting my friend needlessly.”

“I don’t understand how you guys can trust her!” Robin insisted, “Does that word ‘demon’ even mean anything to you guys?”

"Batman doesn't know her like we do," Cyborg shouted, he huffed and crossed his arms. 

“You do not understand our trust because you have not allowed yourself to trust,” Starfire explained, “Think of your father for a moment,” she insisted.

“Batman trusts the new Batgirl with open arms. She has killed before. She was bred to be her father’s weapon, just as Raven was bred to be her father's weapon. Raven, like Cassandra, has learned the value of trust, friendship, and self ownership. If Batman can trust someone like her, can’t we also trust someone like Raven?”

“Cass is human,” Robin emphasized.  

“Raven is more human than I,” Starfire reminded him.

“Do not dismiss her over something she cannot change; her true nature is defined by her deeds and beliefs,” Starfire stated evenly, “Not by her blood fore-bearers.”

“Furthermore" Starfire proclaimed to all, "I am upset that the three of you decided that this was an appropriate course of action to take without informing the rest of us,” she said, clearly displeased at Robin, Raven, and Zatanna.

“Is she the new leader?” See-More asked quietly.

“It looks like,” a Billy agreed.

Robin went silent, sulking, but nodded at Starfire vaguely. 

“And I’m definitely gonna have some words with the League about this,” Cyborg declared at Zatanna. “There’s no way any of them approved this either.”  

Zatanna pulled at her collar sheepishly.

“TIXE!” She shouted, making herself disappear in a cloud of smoke, to presumably talk to the League about her actions first; possibly stopping to get take out on the way.  

“Raven,” Starfire began, “You have likely been through an ordeal, and I understand if you need some time to think things over; but you are welcomed to return to us as soon as you feel ready to.”

“Our door’s open too Sweetheart,” Jinx offered quietly, letting her her hand brush against Raven’s arm.

Raven slowly rose to her feet and wrapped her arms around herself.

“I don’t want to choose,” Raven said quietly.

“Then dont,” Jinx offered gently; she smiled sadly, “Go back to your team, tell Shortstack off and go save the world and stuff,” she mused, “And whenever you’re off duty you can come hang out with us. And don't forget," she teased, "you still owe me that second date.”

Raven smiled a bit and nodded before looking at Starfire hopefully.

Starfire smiled broadly and Raven felt herself sigh in relief.

Turning back to Jinx, Raven grinned; “How does next Saturday sound?”

“It’s a date then,” Jinx promised happily; “Just remember to keep it darlin’ otherwize I’ma have to rob a bank or somethin’ to get my fix of that pretty face of yours,” Jinx teased, winking.

Raven chuckled and Jinx turned back to her team.

“All right Hive, let’s leave ‘em alive,” she ordered, “Move out.”

“Can we say goodbye first,” a Billy asked tearfully.

“I was just gettin’ used to havin’ her around!” another mourned.

“Alright,” Jinx conceded, “But make ‘em quick.”

Without warning Kyd Wykkyd rushed towards Raven to envelop her in a hug.

Raven hugged him back and signed a short, crude farewell with her hands before he floated into through the floor and disappeared.

The Billys were next, and Raven was hugged by several sobbing Billys, and shook hands with several joke cracking Billys, and was flipped the bird by who Raven was sure was the second original Billy; she smiled softly at each of them and sighed in relief as they fought amongst themselves on their way to get out of the door.

See-More walked up slowly and offered a hand.

Raven shook it and surprised him with a hug; he smiled and gave her a nod before giving her a final salute before walking out of the door himself.

Mammoth wasted no time in simply walking over and picking her up.

“I’ll miss ya, Runt,” he declared as she was face-level; he turned to look at the other Titans, “You lot better take better care a’her, you hear?”

He turned back to Raven and grinned, “Anytime you wanna give this lot’ta hard time, you just let us know.”

“Thanks Mammoth,” Raven replied; “And do give Mother Mae-Eye my regards.” 

“Will do,” Mammoth promised, setting Raven back down.

As Mammoth walked past Jinx, he grinned at her.

Jinx looked hesitantly at Raven, suddenly feeling nervous. 

She scoffed at herself and chuckled before placing a kiss on Raven’s cheek and giving the Titan a wink.

“Later Doll,” she promised, heading out the door herself.

The Titans watched them file out of the Tower one by one, through their computer’s monitoring systems in silence until they disappeared off the map entirely.

“Cloaking device?” Cyborg mused.

Beast Boy looked at Raven, his face filled with confusion.

Raven raised a brow at him.

“Dudes... But why did Jinx have our blender?” he asked, scratching his head.

Raven smirked and dissipated into her room without another word.