Non-Canon Omake: Scavenger Hunt Part 1
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
And finally after a massive amount of buildup this is finally out (I don't think it'll live up to the hype if you've been building it up in your mind for a month even if it is generally solid in my opinion). I'd like to think that while this is not incredibly impressive it is at least intriguing. A lot of this piece was set up for what is yet to come. I decided to split this "episode" into three parts much like how Secrets and Lies in Jump City initially was.
I had a lot of fun writing Rose in this bit and while she won't be showing up as a POV often I do think she'll be getting a few really good character moments later on down the line. That being said I'm a touch worried about how the Jinx-Cassandra relationship plays out in this piece as its different from what came before and I'm a little unsure on if it feels OOC or not. I also had a lot of fun writing the Hive Five but I am worried on whether or not their dialogue felt naturally especially since I kind of fudged the roster due to not remembering who was on the team at the time (I know that in Deception it was just Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo and in Mother Mae-Eye they added See-More and Private Hive. As such even though I kind of wanted to go with Kyd Wykkyd I ultimately went with the lineup I did. I'll probably switch it up as time goes on).
Lastly for those who are curious, Secrets and Lies in Jump City took place around the time of "X" (Season 3, Episode 2) with this episode taking place after "Haunted" (Season 3, Episode 5) but before "Spellbound" (Season 3, Episode 6). I've got very loose plans for Cassandra and her group to briefly show up in the Third Season Finale (Titan's East Part 2). Following that in the hypothetical fourth season there'll be the all new invented episodes I'll write out tentatively called Terror Titans, Circle of Six, Family Ties and Sword of Beowulf with Cassandra and her team also appearing in the season finale involving a fight against Trigon. I hope you all are as excited as I am and I encourage people to speculate theorize and predict stuff.
Regardless of all that stuff I hope you all enjoy this return now that the hiatus is done.
Non-Canon Omake: Scavenger Hunt Part 1
Rose Wilson
Was it weird to have mixed feelings about a city? Like if it were a person or a thing it wouldn't be weird at all to have mixed feelings on it, but a place? That was always going to be a bit odd. Considering the fact that Rose's dad had died in Jump City after having attempted to conquer it, Rose at least knew that she at least had some justifications for the weird ass feelings the city gave her.
Daddy dearest wasn't exactly a role model in Rose's life, you kind of had to, you know, be present in your kids life for that to work but that didn't mean Rose wanted him to die. He was an inspiration to her growing up after all. How many kids had dads that were top secret government agents? Granted Rose's dad turned out to be less "secret agent" more "internationally wanted assassin and mercenary" but the principle of the thing remained. He didn't exactly need to be around to cast a shadow on everyone else's life in the Wilson family. Once upon a time Rose and her brothers had all wanted to be just like him. As a child Rose had believed that if she were skilled and powerful enough her dad would want her and they could bond together and be a real family again.
In the end though it was nothing more than a nice dream. Mom had a breakdown, Grant got killed playing chicken with some supers, Joe was fucks knows where and daddy dearest had decided to follow up Grant's achievements by getting killed by the junior Justice League.
Just thinking about it all was kind of depressing and the big stupid T-shaped tower in the middle of Jump City's bay wasn't exactly helping her mood. Still orders were orders and when the boss lady told her to come on down and help Cassandra deal with the same meddling brats who killed her dad, well then Rose was all to eager to accept. Her dad was a deadbeat and probably not a good person but he was still her dad god damnit.
And so the whole escapade with giving Cinderblock some modified fear gas to fuck with bird boys brain was both a nice test run to see what the Teen Titans were packing and a chance to potentially settle the score. The Titans had eventually solved things faster than Cassandra would have liked but it'd let Rose nab some of her dad's old gear from Titans Tower. Staring into the bronze and black mask always evoked some intense feelings. This was the closest she was ever going to get to her dad now. Rose couldn't help but think of all the could have beens and should have beens that she knew were beneath her but still hurt all the same. All she had of her dad was just a mask and some gear.
"Are you done staring at that stupid mask yet?" Jinx, Cassandra's petty little minion whined "Looking at it again isn't going to let you find a get out of hell free card to get your dad back"
"Shut up" Rose snarled back in response "You never had any parents so your opinion means nothing"
Jinx moved to yell more at Rose when Cassandra interceded.
"Enough Jinx, let Rose mourn" Cassandra replied even as Rose began to loudly yell that she wasn't mourning anything. Who gave a shit about her deadbeat dad? She certainly didn't. Cassandra didn't seemed moved at all by Rose's yelling, content to just give her a particularly cold glare.
Rose liked the little tyke but goddamn was Cassandra's little body-reading party trick unnerving at times. Rose wasn't intimidated by Cassandra by any means but having someone stare at you like they see right through you and see your soul was always uncanny and uncomfortable. The fact that Cassandra was almost always right only made it freakier cause she could gaslight you into confirming bullshit she spewed if she got into your head. Rose knew the little murder-gremlin back when she still didn't talk much but Cassandra was objectively terrifying if you got on her bad side. Rose wouldn't ever be as intimidated as the average person by Cassandra but it was still sobering to be on the recieving end of her glare.
"I'm not... I'm not mourning!" Rose declared to Jinx's apparent disbelief as the pink haired girl scoffed off to the side "It's just, you know... It was my dad and that's all I'll ever have of him. Like.. he was a terrible person and I never actually met him but still... All I'll ever have of my dad is a mask"
Cassandra's eyes ever so slightly softened at Rose's statement. In the back of her mind Rose knew that Cassandra's sympathy was likely performative at best, Cassandra didn't exactly didn't do empathy like normal people but then what Luthor did? The fact that she put in the effort to fake feeling something for the sake of making Rose feel a bit better was telling in and of itself. Cassandra didn't necessarily care for Rose but she certainly valued her and some days that was enough.
"I'm giving you the week off to get your act together" Cassandra intoned "But after that I expect you to get your act together"
Rose promptly gave Cassandra a salute before walking off, pointedly ignoring the mocking face Jinx made behind her back. Cassandra had given Rose time to sort out her feelings and so she intended to make use of it. Because of this she'd end up missing most of the events in the following days.
Shimmer
"C'mon what's taking so long Gizmo?" Shimmer angrily groused as her incompetent teammates continued to fail at doing the jobs they were supposed to get done "Brother Blood wants this spaceship down pronto and it's your job to handle all the tech stuff"
"I'm working here!" Gizmo snottily shrieked back in annoyance "Do you have any idea how hard it is to build an earth based tractor beam to pull ships out of deep space and convincingly crash them without wiping out all life on earth?"
"Can't be that hard" See-More said "After all most of what we're doing is using LexCorp tech."
"Well LexCorp makes good stuff but just cause we've got stealable hardware doesn't mean that it's easy" Gizmo fired back.
"I still don't get why we can't just steal the transplanter beam or whatever its called " Shimmer's brother said like the thickheaded moron he was. Shimmer made sure to preempt him before Gizmo started ranting at her meathead of a brother and got distracted from getting his work done.
"Firstly it's called a tractor beam not a transplanter beam. Secondly unless you want to carry something the size of a small house for a few miles then we can't do move the beam without potentially breaking something and adding more steps to the plan. And finally DO YOU WANT TO GET CAUGHT BY LEXCORP SECURITY YOU STUPID MAMMOTH-HEADED MORON?"
The catharsis of yelling at her stupid brother was relieving in and of itself. Gizmo started snickering at her brother's cowed expression.
"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT!" Shimmer shouted at the top of her lungs "GET BACK TO WORK AND DO YOUR JOB!"
Gizmo promptly flew off, muttering under his breath all the while. Shimmer couldn't relax just yet as her brother was off hiding from her hoping to avoid another scolding. Why did all of the boys on her team have to be such idiots most of the time?
"You seem tense" See-More commented "You need to relax, I think we'll see better results with some positive reinforcement"
Shimmer scowled at her monocular teammates unwanted advice.
"Of course I'm tense, Brother Blood is counting on us to get the job done!" Shimmer declared "And I'll give you guys positive reinforcement when one of you has done something to earn it"
"I'm just saying you catch more flies with honey with vinegar" See-More sing-songed
"I could catch even more with manure" Shimmer's brother responded "Why do you even want flies in the first place?"
"It's an expression Mammoth" See-More flatly retorted. Shimmer was going to say more when a familiar unpleasant new addition to the team made itself known.
"Alright cadets I've made my fourth lap around the perimeter and have encountered no hostiles. Quit your lollygagging and lets get the job done! Move, move, move!" The terminal annoyance known as Private HIVE said with the most atrocious southern accent accompanying his voice. Shimmer couldn't stand the bossy know it all.
"Then stop doing pointless stuff and help!" Shimmer yelled back.
"It's like watching someone look in a mirror" See-More muttered.
"You saying I look like Major Loser over there?" Shimmer angrily retorted as she got in See-More's face, her hands crackling with violet energy.
"N-n-not at all" See-More said nervously backing away.
"You're much prettier than he is, sis" Mammoth replied. "Smarter too"
And this was why Shimmer loved her brother. Sure he was a moron but he was so sweet at times and he sometimes savanted his way into saying the right thing at the right time.
"What he said" See-More added on. Well Shimmer just couldn't stay mad at her stupid, stupid teammates. Sure they were a pain to deal with and the stress of this job was causing her to yell at them but they were a million times better than Private HIVE was any day of the week.
"Thank you!" Shimmer demurred.
"I'll have you know that it is against HIVE Academy rules subsection 315b part 4 to attempt to undermine your squad leader" Private HIVE droned on "As such I'll be sure to..."
Before he could complete whatever boring as hell lame rule-following statement he was going to make, the doors to the lab were blown off their hinges and they flew right past Private HIVE, interrupting his rant.
"Hive Five, you're going down!" Robin declared as the smoke cleared out and the Teen Titans were seen clearly standing in the doorway of the hidden LexCorp observatory they were in.
"Four sweeps and no signs of hostiles?" See-More sarcastically questioned.
"It was an honest mistake" Private HIVE braggadociously defended "They must have somehow snuck by me despite my textbook perfect patrols"
"Whatever Major Loser" Mammoth declared in annoyance as Shimmer rolled her eyes at Private HIVE's stupidity "Lets smash some skulls!"
Mammoth promptly charged forwards, eager to fight. Her brother was just too predictable sometimes.
"Titans go!" Robin yelled as the group scattered, avoiding Mammoth's initial charge. Beast Boy engaged Mammoth while the others moved past him and headed towards the tractor beam.
"HIve Five move out!" Private Hive unnecessarily stated. Private Hive took on Robin while See-More started blasting at Starfire and Shimmer faced off with Raven. Shimmer hurled wave after wave of violet energy, blasting apart anything the telekinetic Titan threw at her while attempting to drive her off with more concentrated blasts. They managed a stalemate. It wouldn't last long but Shimmet knew she only needed to stall long enough to give Gizmo the time he needed to bring down the alien spaceship. And when she heard Gizmo crowing she knew they'd won.
"Too late crud-munchers!" Gizmo gleefully taunted "The spaceships coming down and there's nothing you barf-brains can do to stop it!"
Shimmer couldn't help but flash a face-splitting grin. They'd won. Even with Private HIVE's stupidity and annoying rule following they'd still beaten the Titans. The Hive Five beat a hasty retreat from there. After all they were going to need a headstart to loot the crash site to get new tech for Brother Blood's bots. And they'd need every head start they could get to make sure they succeeded in this mission.
Jinx
Jinx wasn't particularly impressed with whoever had been behind the break in to the LexCorp lab. Sure the use of the tractor beam to bring down some alien's spaceship was annoying but they barely bothered to cover their tracks and honestly they were just begging to be hunted down and caught. Cass was currently on the phone making sure everyone was where they needed to be and so it fell to Jinx to figure out whose heads were rolling and how soon they could make that happen.
Sparks danced along her fingertips as Jinx used magic to track the signatures of all the individuals involved in the very brief fight in here. The wisps of who had once been here spoke to her and revealed their secrets.
Five of the signatures were unfamiliar, three of them were obviously metahumans, a bruiser a blaster and something to do with sight, while the other two seemed to be more tech based. They'd entered first and one of them had messed with the tractor beam. Three of them including a brother and a sister had stayed behind and bickered while the other non-metahuman individual had begun attempting to patrol the area around the tractor beam. Interestingly enough it seemed as though the rest of the group all hated the individual who had done the patrolling. That was a potential weakpoint to exploit but Cass could likely give a more accurate assessment once she saw them in person.
The second group was the Teen Titans. Jinx had wanted a rematch with them ever since she'd been thrown out of the Jump City LexCorp building by Red X before she could really let loose. Now it seemed like she might be able to get that rematch. Cassandra would likely be a little miffed at being unable to break them directly but Jinx would be sure to fulfill her best friends wishes and make the Titans pay for getting in their way.
All in all it was looking like it was going to be a good day. She had the scent of both groups and so they could soon start hunting them down at their leisure.
Cass got off of her phone and turned to face Jinx. The tuxedo-esque shirt and casual slacks belied the fact that Cass was raring for a fight even if she couldn't participate directly. Jinx's best friend liked to get physical when she could but often had to play the part of the CEO and so couldn't. Still this outfit suggested that if Cassandra saw an opportunity to get away with a direct fight, she might take it.
"Sorry for the delay" Cass apologized "I had to spend forever making sure that the legal departments were all up to speed on what had gone down. I didn't mean to leave all the work to you"
Jinx grinned. Her time was valuable and she was glad her best friend knew it.
"Relax, these guys are all amateur hour, I've got a lock on both groups involved" Jinx gloated "Apparently our old friends the Teen Titans broke in here to take on some teenage supervillains. I've got both groups on lock and as soon as you give the order I can have us run down either group"
Cassandra began to follow Jinx back towards the car they had arrived in.
"Any preferences or strategic recommendations?" Cass asked genuinely enquiring to know Jinx's opinion. It made Jinx feel special knowing that even though her best friend was arguably one of the most powerful people on the planet she still took the time to listen to Jinx and consider her opinions. Cassandra might be a stupid genius at times but her friend knew to listen to others when it counted.
"I've got none so long as I get to let loose on the Titans to get some payback" Jinx admitted "Speaking of which you going to change at all in case we get a bit physical"
Cassandra sighed in disappointment.
"No, I'm stuck playing pampered princess if we want to keep the element of surprise and maintain the Red X mind control narrative" Cassandra begrudgingly responded.
"Well it could be worse" Jinx replied as she put an arm around her friend's shoulder "You get to watch me rip them apart and you can order the drones to fire on them indirectly so you're not going to be doing nothing"
"That is true" Cass admitted "But I'd still prefer to be able to do it myself"
"Well it wouldn't really be fair if we fought them at the same time. Let's at least give the Titans a sporting chance." Jinx joked as she opened the door to convertible sports car they'd arrived in.
Cassandra tapped a few buttons on her phone and all around them drones rose up into the air in an ominous swarm. Jinx was excited for the hunt.
"So did you come to a decision on who to take down?" Jinx asked her friend as she stepped into the driver's seat. Cassandra considered things for a moment before grinning back at Jinx.
"We'll deal with our unknown thieves first and then I'll have you avenge the slights against the Luthor name" Cassandra said with mock seriousness. Jinx had always known that Cass would want to get revenge on the Titans and it seemed as though their opportunity was arriving now.
Jinx rooted around in her bag of holding before pulling out a series of small dog-like talismans, each one about the three inches in size. She tossed them into the air and fed them magic and intent. Hunt down these individuals, Jinx magically enchanted the talismans as they grew into full sized ephemeral hounds. Track them to the ends of the Earth, never slow down, never tire but make sure you lead the hunters to their prey.
"Well my lady" Jinx said in a faux-Shakespearean tone "It appears as though the witching hour is in your favor as always. Lady luck smiles upon us and bids us good fortune in our hunt"
Cassandra chuckled and Jinx grinned. The ephemeral magically constructed hounds raced off, following the traces the individuals who had broken into LexCorp had left behind. Jinx gunned the car forward as Cassandra commanded the drones to follow. This was going to be a good hunt with a satisfying ending. Luthor's always got even and if it meant Jinx got to make her friend happy while letting loose against the people who had humiliated her well then that was even better.
I had a lot of fun writing Rose in this bit and while she won't be showing up as a POV often I do think she'll be getting a few really good character moments later on down the line. That being said I'm a touch worried about how the Jinx-Cassandra relationship plays out in this piece as its different from what came before and I'm a little unsure on if it feels OOC or not. I also had a lot of fun writing the Hive Five but I am worried on whether or not their dialogue felt naturally especially since I kind of fudged the roster due to not remembering who was on the team at the time (I know that in Deception it was just Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo and in Mother Mae-Eye they added See-More and Private Hive. As such even though I kind of wanted to go with Kyd Wykkyd I ultimately went with the lineup I did. I'll probably switch it up as time goes on).
Lastly for those who are curious, Secrets and Lies in Jump City took place around the time of "X" (Season 3, Episode 2) with this episode taking place after "Haunted" (Season 3, Episode 5) but before "Spellbound" (Season 3, Episode 6). I've got very loose plans for Cassandra and her group to briefly show up in the Third Season Finale (Titan's East Part 2). Following that in the hypothetical fourth season there'll be the all new invented episodes I'll write out tentatively called Terror Titans, Circle of Six, Family Ties and Sword of Beowulf with Cassandra and her team also appearing in the season finale involving a fight against Trigon. I hope you all are as excited as I am and I encourage people to speculate theorize and predict stuff.
Regardless of all that stuff I hope you all enjoy this return now that the hiatus is done.
Non-Canon Omake: Scavenger Hunt Part 1
Rose Wilson
Was it weird to have mixed feelings about a city? Like if it were a person or a thing it wouldn't be weird at all to have mixed feelings on it, but a place? That was always going to be a bit odd. Considering the fact that Rose's dad had died in Jump City after having attempted to conquer it, Rose at least knew that she at least had some justifications for the weird ass feelings the city gave her.
Daddy dearest wasn't exactly a role model in Rose's life, you kind of had to, you know, be present in your kids life for that to work but that didn't mean Rose wanted him to die. He was an inspiration to her growing up after all. How many kids had dads that were top secret government agents? Granted Rose's dad turned out to be less "secret agent" more "internationally wanted assassin and mercenary" but the principle of the thing remained. He didn't exactly need to be around to cast a shadow on everyone else's life in the Wilson family. Once upon a time Rose and her brothers had all wanted to be just like him. As a child Rose had believed that if she were skilled and powerful enough her dad would want her and they could bond together and be a real family again.
In the end though it was nothing more than a nice dream. Mom had a breakdown, Grant got killed playing chicken with some supers, Joe was fucks knows where and daddy dearest had decided to follow up Grant's achievements by getting killed by the junior Justice League.
Just thinking about it all was kind of depressing and the big stupid T-shaped tower in the middle of Jump City's bay wasn't exactly helping her mood. Still orders were orders and when the boss lady told her to come on down and help Cassandra deal with the same meddling brats who killed her dad, well then Rose was all to eager to accept. Her dad was a deadbeat and probably not a good person but he was still her dad god damnit.
And so the whole escapade with giving Cinderblock some modified fear gas to fuck with bird boys brain was both a nice test run to see what the Teen Titans were packing and a chance to potentially settle the score. The Titans had eventually solved things faster than Cassandra would have liked but it'd let Rose nab some of her dad's old gear from Titans Tower. Staring into the bronze and black mask always evoked some intense feelings. This was the closest she was ever going to get to her dad now. Rose couldn't help but think of all the could have beens and should have beens that she knew were beneath her but still hurt all the same. All she had of her dad was just a mask and some gear.
"Are you done staring at that stupid mask yet?" Jinx, Cassandra's petty little minion whined "Looking at it again isn't going to let you find a get out of hell free card to get your dad back"
"Shut up" Rose snarled back in response "You never had any parents so your opinion means nothing"
Jinx moved to yell more at Rose when Cassandra interceded.
"Enough Jinx, let Rose mourn" Cassandra replied even as Rose began to loudly yell that she wasn't mourning anything. Who gave a shit about her deadbeat dad? She certainly didn't. Cassandra didn't seemed moved at all by Rose's yelling, content to just give her a particularly cold glare.
Rose liked the little tyke but goddamn was Cassandra's little body-reading party trick unnerving at times. Rose wasn't intimidated by Cassandra by any means but having someone stare at you like they see right through you and see your soul was always uncanny and uncomfortable. The fact that Cassandra was almost always right only made it freakier cause she could gaslight you into confirming bullshit she spewed if she got into your head. Rose knew the little murder-gremlin back when she still didn't talk much but Cassandra was objectively terrifying if you got on her bad side. Rose wouldn't ever be as intimidated as the average person by Cassandra but it was still sobering to be on the recieving end of her glare.
"I'm not... I'm not mourning!" Rose declared to Jinx's apparent disbelief as the pink haired girl scoffed off to the side "It's just, you know... It was my dad and that's all I'll ever have of him. Like.. he was a terrible person and I never actually met him but still... All I'll ever have of my dad is a mask"
Cassandra's eyes ever so slightly softened at Rose's statement. In the back of her mind Rose knew that Cassandra's sympathy was likely performative at best, Cassandra didn't exactly didn't do empathy like normal people but then what Luthor did? The fact that she put in the effort to fake feeling something for the sake of making Rose feel a bit better was telling in and of itself. Cassandra didn't necessarily care for Rose but she certainly valued her and some days that was enough.
"I'm giving you the week off to get your act together" Cassandra intoned "But after that I expect you to get your act together"
Rose promptly gave Cassandra a salute before walking off, pointedly ignoring the mocking face Jinx made behind her back. Cassandra had given Rose time to sort out her feelings and so she intended to make use of it. Because of this she'd end up missing most of the events in the following days.
Shimmer
"C'mon what's taking so long Gizmo?" Shimmer angrily groused as her incompetent teammates continued to fail at doing the jobs they were supposed to get done "Brother Blood wants this spaceship down pronto and it's your job to handle all the tech stuff"
"I'm working here!" Gizmo snottily shrieked back in annoyance "Do you have any idea how hard it is to build an earth based tractor beam to pull ships out of deep space and convincingly crash them without wiping out all life on earth?"
"Can't be that hard" See-More said "After all most of what we're doing is using LexCorp tech."
"Well LexCorp makes good stuff but just cause we've got stealable hardware doesn't mean that it's easy" Gizmo fired back.
"I still don't get why we can't just steal the transplanter beam or whatever its called " Shimmer's brother said like the thickheaded moron he was. Shimmer made sure to preempt him before Gizmo started ranting at her meathead of a brother and got distracted from getting his work done.
"Firstly it's called a tractor beam not a transplanter beam. Secondly unless you want to carry something the size of a small house for a few miles then we can't do move the beam without potentially breaking something and adding more steps to the plan. And finally DO YOU WANT TO GET CAUGHT BY LEXCORP SECURITY YOU STUPID MAMMOTH-HEADED MORON?"
The catharsis of yelling at her stupid brother was relieving in and of itself. Gizmo started snickering at her brother's cowed expression.
"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT!" Shimmer shouted at the top of her lungs "GET BACK TO WORK AND DO YOUR JOB!"
Gizmo promptly flew off, muttering under his breath all the while. Shimmer couldn't relax just yet as her brother was off hiding from her hoping to avoid another scolding. Why did all of the boys on her team have to be such idiots most of the time?
"You seem tense" See-More commented "You need to relax, I think we'll see better results with some positive reinforcement"
Shimmer scowled at her monocular teammates unwanted advice.
"Of course I'm tense, Brother Blood is counting on us to get the job done!" Shimmer declared "And I'll give you guys positive reinforcement when one of you has done something to earn it"
"I'm just saying you catch more flies with honey with vinegar" See-More sing-songed
"I could catch even more with manure" Shimmer's brother responded "Why do you even want flies in the first place?"
"It's an expression Mammoth" See-More flatly retorted. Shimmer was going to say more when a familiar unpleasant new addition to the team made itself known.
"Alright cadets I've made my fourth lap around the perimeter and have encountered no hostiles. Quit your lollygagging and lets get the job done! Move, move, move!" The terminal annoyance known as Private HIVE said with the most atrocious southern accent accompanying his voice. Shimmer couldn't stand the bossy know it all.
"Then stop doing pointless stuff and help!" Shimmer yelled back.
"It's like watching someone look in a mirror" See-More muttered.
"You saying I look like Major Loser over there?" Shimmer angrily retorted as she got in See-More's face, her hands crackling with violet energy.
"N-n-not at all" See-More said nervously backing away.
"You're much prettier than he is, sis" Mammoth replied. "Smarter too"
And this was why Shimmer loved her brother. Sure he was a moron but he was so sweet at times and he sometimes savanted his way into saying the right thing at the right time.
"What he said" See-More added on. Well Shimmer just couldn't stay mad at her stupid, stupid teammates. Sure they were a pain to deal with and the stress of this job was causing her to yell at them but they were a million times better than Private HIVE was any day of the week.
"Thank you!" Shimmer demurred.
"I'll have you know that it is against HIVE Academy rules subsection 315b part 4 to attempt to undermine your squad leader" Private HIVE droned on "As such I'll be sure to..."
Before he could complete whatever boring as hell lame rule-following statement he was going to make, the doors to the lab were blown off their hinges and they flew right past Private HIVE, interrupting his rant.
"Hive Five, you're going down!" Robin declared as the smoke cleared out and the Teen Titans were seen clearly standing in the doorway of the hidden LexCorp observatory they were in.
"Four sweeps and no signs of hostiles?" See-More sarcastically questioned.
"It was an honest mistake" Private HIVE braggadociously defended "They must have somehow snuck by me despite my textbook perfect patrols"
"Whatever Major Loser" Mammoth declared in annoyance as Shimmer rolled her eyes at Private HIVE's stupidity "Lets smash some skulls!"
Mammoth promptly charged forwards, eager to fight. Her brother was just too predictable sometimes.
"Titans go!" Robin yelled as the group scattered, avoiding Mammoth's initial charge. Beast Boy engaged Mammoth while the others moved past him and headed towards the tractor beam.
"HIve Five move out!" Private Hive unnecessarily stated. Private Hive took on Robin while See-More started blasting at Starfire and Shimmer faced off with Raven. Shimmer hurled wave after wave of violet energy, blasting apart anything the telekinetic Titan threw at her while attempting to drive her off with more concentrated blasts. They managed a stalemate. It wouldn't last long but Shimmet knew she only needed to stall long enough to give Gizmo the time he needed to bring down the alien spaceship. And when she heard Gizmo crowing she knew they'd won.
"Too late crud-munchers!" Gizmo gleefully taunted "The spaceships coming down and there's nothing you barf-brains can do to stop it!"
Shimmer couldn't help but flash a face-splitting grin. They'd won. Even with Private HIVE's stupidity and annoying rule following they'd still beaten the Titans. The Hive Five beat a hasty retreat from there. After all they were going to need a headstart to loot the crash site to get new tech for Brother Blood's bots. And they'd need every head start they could get to make sure they succeeded in this mission.
Jinx
Jinx wasn't particularly impressed with whoever had been behind the break in to the LexCorp lab. Sure the use of the tractor beam to bring down some alien's spaceship was annoying but they barely bothered to cover their tracks and honestly they were just begging to be hunted down and caught. Cass was currently on the phone making sure everyone was where they needed to be and so it fell to Jinx to figure out whose heads were rolling and how soon they could make that happen.
Sparks danced along her fingertips as Jinx used magic to track the signatures of all the individuals involved in the very brief fight in here. The wisps of who had once been here spoke to her and revealed their secrets.
Five of the signatures were unfamiliar, three of them were obviously metahumans, a bruiser a blaster and something to do with sight, while the other two seemed to be more tech based. They'd entered first and one of them had messed with the tractor beam. Three of them including a brother and a sister had stayed behind and bickered while the other non-metahuman individual had begun attempting to patrol the area around the tractor beam. Interestingly enough it seemed as though the rest of the group all hated the individual who had done the patrolling. That was a potential weakpoint to exploit but Cass could likely give a more accurate assessment once she saw them in person.
The second group was the Teen Titans. Jinx had wanted a rematch with them ever since she'd been thrown out of the Jump City LexCorp building by Red X before she could really let loose. Now it seemed like she might be able to get that rematch. Cassandra would likely be a little miffed at being unable to break them directly but Jinx would be sure to fulfill her best friends wishes and make the Titans pay for getting in their way.
All in all it was looking like it was going to be a good day. She had the scent of both groups and so they could soon start hunting them down at their leisure.
Cass got off of her phone and turned to face Jinx. The tuxedo-esque shirt and casual slacks belied the fact that Cass was raring for a fight even if she couldn't participate directly. Jinx's best friend liked to get physical when she could but often had to play the part of the CEO and so couldn't. Still this outfit suggested that if Cassandra saw an opportunity to get away with a direct fight, she might take it.
"Sorry for the delay" Cass apologized "I had to spend forever making sure that the legal departments were all up to speed on what had gone down. I didn't mean to leave all the work to you"
Jinx grinned. Her time was valuable and she was glad her best friend knew it.
"Relax, these guys are all amateur hour, I've got a lock on both groups involved" Jinx gloated "Apparently our old friends the Teen Titans broke in here to take on some teenage supervillains. I've got both groups on lock and as soon as you give the order I can have us run down either group"
Cassandra began to follow Jinx back towards the car they had arrived in.
"Any preferences or strategic recommendations?" Cass asked genuinely enquiring to know Jinx's opinion. It made Jinx feel special knowing that even though her best friend was arguably one of the most powerful people on the planet she still took the time to listen to Jinx and consider her opinions. Cassandra might be a stupid genius at times but her friend knew to listen to others when it counted.
"I've got none so long as I get to let loose on the Titans to get some payback" Jinx admitted "Speaking of which you going to change at all in case we get a bit physical"
Cassandra sighed in disappointment.
"No, I'm stuck playing pampered princess if we want to keep the element of surprise and maintain the Red X mind control narrative" Cassandra begrudgingly responded.
"Well it could be worse" Jinx replied as she put an arm around her friend's shoulder "You get to watch me rip them apart and you can order the drones to fire on them indirectly so you're not going to be doing nothing"
"That is true" Cass admitted "But I'd still prefer to be able to do it myself"
"Well it wouldn't really be fair if we fought them at the same time. Let's at least give the Titans a sporting chance." Jinx joked as she opened the door to convertible sports car they'd arrived in.
Cassandra tapped a few buttons on her phone and all around them drones rose up into the air in an ominous swarm. Jinx was excited for the hunt.
"So did you come to a decision on who to take down?" Jinx asked her friend as she stepped into the driver's seat. Cassandra considered things for a moment before grinning back at Jinx.
"We'll deal with our unknown thieves first and then I'll have you avenge the slights against the Luthor name" Cassandra said with mock seriousness. Jinx had always known that Cass would want to get revenge on the Titans and it seemed as though their opportunity was arriving now.
Jinx rooted around in her bag of holding before pulling out a series of small dog-like talismans, each one about the three inches in size. She tossed them into the air and fed them magic and intent. Hunt down these individuals, Jinx magically enchanted the talismans as they grew into full sized ephemeral hounds. Track them to the ends of the Earth, never slow down, never tire but make sure you lead the hunters to their prey.
"Well my lady" Jinx said in a faux-Shakespearean tone "It appears as though the witching hour is in your favor as always. Lady luck smiles upon us and bids us good fortune in our hunt"
Cassandra chuckled and Jinx grinned. The ephemeral magically constructed hounds raced off, following the traces the individuals who had broken into LexCorp had left behind. Jinx gunned the car forward as Cassandra commanded the drones to follow. This was going to be a good hunt with a satisfying ending. Luthor's always got even and if it meant Jinx got to make her friend happy while letting loose against the people who had humiliated her well then that was even better.
