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.”