That's A Problem. (Livewire)

Jinx knew why she was here. She shouldn’t have been here – She wouldn’t really want to be anyway – But she knew exactly why she was here.

She wanted to cause some trouble, and sure, she could have done so back in Jump – But then the Titans would come and open a can of kick-ass. Of which she couldn’t handle. But this was Steel City, and Hamilton Hill District. So she could cause some trouble, and the retribution would be minimal.

She hadn’t caused trouble in a long time – Probably because she couldn’t be bothered. But she’d simply woken up early this morning, hopped on a train here, and now she was ready.

She loitered for a while. That wasn’t even suspicious here, but she’d had to firmly tell people that no, she was not going to join them in the back of their car. No, she was not cheap. No, Mr. Scumbag, she wouldn’t, not even for that amount of money, so he should clear off.

Eventually, she was ready – Targeting a low budget strip club, but she could care less. Rolling her neck and stretching her fingers, she smiled, her pink hair luminous under the street light.

Wordlessly, she crossed the street, merely standing outside the building. The dozy bouncer didn’t even look twice at her.

With a small ‘Nyah!’ she swung a hand forward, a slice of pink illuminating the darkened glass of the window, shattering it into a few million pieces, the silhouette of a woman that had been painted on it disappearing. A few screams erupted, an angry policeman diving out of her line of sight.

She’d seen him, but he wouldn’t do anything. He probably had a family, judging by the ring on his finger, and shouldn’t have been here anyway.

Stepping calmly through the door, she continued to destroy. Finally, the bouncer rounded on her, and she neatly flipped out of the way, a one handed walkover, the smile large on her lips. She’d missed destruction.

The club was still relatively intact, so she shot more flashes, arcs and general havoc towards different places, people screaming now.

Why a strip club?

Because it was easy.

The bouncer came at her, again, and she simply backflipped out of the destroyed window, happy she’d caused enough damage. Her last torrent had set a small fire, and people had cleared out. There was a small niggle of guilt, somewhere in her gut, but at the moment she didn’t care.

Her last backflip would have been impressive, had she not flipped straight into someone and crumpled at their feet. She quickly jumped up again, angry her escape had been thwarted.

“Hey!” She said, angrily, “Watch it!”

She then realized there was a second bouncer. One she hadn’t accounted for, and he’d grabbed her arms quicker than she could move. This had not gone according to plan.

“Hey!” She growled, again, kicking violently. “Lemme go!”

Jinx stopped her struggling, beginning to try and reason her way out of it, but the bouncers weren’t having any of it. She highly doubted they’d even believe, ‘Hey, I work here!’

She didn’t even bother trying, and she realized she’d made a mistake in not realizing there were two bouncers, not one. To make matters worse, she couldn’t user her powers. She was too close to these guys, and she’d endanger herself.

Well, you’re screwed, Jinx. Well done.

Then another voice joined the fray, and she uncomfortably craned her neck to the right, quickly comprehending another guy – tall, and she had to admit, rather attractive. She could have rolled her eyes. Just her luck. She didn’t even play a good damsel in distress.

There was also a smell of smoke – The guy was smoking. She had no qualms about smoking – People did it. It was their own choice. But this was no health and safety lecture – She was in real danger.

The guy was defending her, and she nodded her head vigorously. “I think you should listen to him,” Jinx stated. “He’s got a good point.”

The bouncer didn’t look too pleased, and Jinx had to admit, this guy was already climbing in her good books. She’d probably be being beaten into a pulp right now, without his intervention. He blew smoke into the bouncer’s face, and the guy coughed. The other bouncer was holding his nose – Had she broken that?

The bouncer made no move to let her go, and she realized very quickly this may escalate into a fight. Yes, Jinx. You got what you came for.

“I’d take that silence as a challenge,” she sighed, now hanging limply from the bouncer’s grasp, resigned to her fate. She was ready, though – She’d take the first opening she got.

Jinx’s mouth popped open into a small ‘o’ as she watched this guy take on the bouncer. It was seemingly surreal, as the guy blasted away, the electricity somewhat a surprise. He didn’t look like a metahuman, but she supposed not everyone wore their hearts on their sleeves. Or, you know, stood out like a sore thumb.

She heard the guy holding her swallow, hard. The look on the new guy’s face was somewhat disorientating, as though he wasn’t really there, rather, thinking of being elsewhere. She knew the feeling. Right now, she was wishing this guy would let go of her arms, for instance. She could feel them bruising.

“I’d let me go, if I were you. You saw what he just did. That was pretty impressive, and your buddy there looks pretty beat up,” she stated, and the guy was trembling now. She rolled her eyes. “Plus, I'd hate to think what I'd do to you when I finally get free. Which I will. I'd probably bet it would hurt. So, for God’s sake, just let me go,” she murmured, almost bored.

The guy then dropped her like there was no tomorrow, turning on his heel and running. Jinx began rubbing her arms, shouting a few, choice swear words at him as he ran away, a lumbering form covering more ground than she thought was humanly possible.

“Pssh, amateurs,” she muttered, to no one in particular. She then looked up at the guy who just saved her, brushing some hair out of her face. “And that was not as much fun as I remembered.”

After making sure her arms still worked (and casually watching the guy from the corner of her eye), she finally spoke up.

“Hey, thanks, by the way,” she said, smiling at him. "I owe ya one."

There was the noise of something breaking in that club, and she rolled her eyes. “We may want to move. It may be Steel City, but we’ll still get arrested when the cops finally show up. ”

A smile. There was something interesting about this guy, but Jinx was no sucker. Still, she’d already underestimated Steel City. Sticking around with him could do her no harm…At least she’d have some backup if something happened.

Jinx didn’t reply to his first statement, instead only shrugging and nodding her head, falling into step behind the taller man. She then smiled at his next statement.

“Maybe I was doing it for fun, and maybe I am a bit stupid at times. Maybe I hadn’t done anything interesting in a while,” she answered, seemingly nonchalant about the whole ordeal, though that previous feeling of guilt was settling in. She’d done it again, God damn it, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she really shouldn’t have caused some destruction. She shrugged off the guilt for a while, keeping up with this new guy’s longer strides.

Her boots sounded loud against the sidewalk, in the dark, and she realized she was happy she wasn’t alone right now. Despite her get up…It didn’t take too much to get her spooked. And this district was enough to freak her out, some of the people cruising by in their cars contributing towards this factor.

“Maybe the bigger question is why you were here, though I'm kinda happy you were,” she started, then frowing, letting out a small laugh. “Actually, maybe I don’t want to know.” Her eyes were trained on the guy’s back, and he offered her some food. She smiled, accepting it gratefully.

“Thanks. Again,” she said, ripping open the pack and beginning to munch on the food.

Her eyebrow raised at his next suggestion. “Seriously? That’s nice of you, considering I just kind of trashed a strip club,” she stated, “And nice to meet you, Ethan. I’m Jinx.”

She hadn’t actually introduced herself by her real name in so long. She was pretty sure she never would, anyway, and she moved into the store, heading towards the freezers in response to Ethan’s request. She wasn’t sure if he meant, like, ice cream or anything, so she grabbed a few frozen pizzas and some other things along those lines – Not to mention ice cream.

Walking towards the front, she expertly grabbed a few things as she went – Pringles, chocolate, fizzy drinks and the like. The way she did it might allude towards the fact she may have had some experience in stealing things – But she wasn’t stealing today. As she expertly balanced the food, she placed it carefully at the register.

“You sure you wanna pay for this? I have some cash too, you know. This hardly seems fair,” she half asked, half stated, feeling that she couldn’t let this guy pay for everything, seeing as he'd just saved her ass..

Jinx raised her pale eyebrows, following Ethan. “Lead the way,” she stated, pretending to be unphased by his statement. Though she figured between them, they could take whoever tried to take them. Er, up to a reasonable amount. Though he seemed pretty powerful.

She slipped through the door he held open for her, with a nod of thanks. Listening to the newest revelation and now walking next to him, she put a finger to her chin, thinking.

“I think I’ll call you Ethan. It suits you,” she said, regarding his facial expression. He didn’t look happy. Kind of like he was lost in memories or something, but what could she do? Not much, she came to the conclusion. Not much.

She’d also come to the conclusion that he was an avid smoker. Not that that fact wasn’t obvious. He kind of smelled like smoke, but she was past caring at this point.

At his next statement, she smiled. “Bit forward, don’t you think? We only just met. I mean, I’m flattered,” she stated, laughing again. “No, that’s fine, I’ve slept on worse. Besides, the next train to Jump City isn’t until noon tomorrow, anyway,” she said, more to herself than him, but she was aware of what she was doing. Following some guy she’d only just met to where he lived. Though he was pretty attractive.

But he didn’t seem like a threat (how many Law and Order episodes started like that?), and she was going on gut instinct. She was sure they were heading towards the docks, and this was all new to her – She didn’t know Steel City too well, so this was a new experience. Besides, this guy seemed okay.

“So, Ethan, what brings you to Steel City, if you don’t mind me asking?” She began, hoping he didn’t mind conversation – Though he didn’t exactly strike her as the type. She hardly wanted to tick him off.

Jinx smiled, happy she’d got a reaction from Ethan. “Hey, I thought you were suggesting it,” she said, laughing again, “Bet it’s on your mind now.”

Jinx wished she could do something as obvious as his electricity thing. Well, her hands could glow pink, she reasoned, but that wasn’t exactly intimidating, was it? Her skirt rustled around her legs slightly, and her boots resonated against the sidewalk. Yeah, she wasn’t very scary. Well, she didn’t think she was, anyway.

“Temporary?” She asked, but he quickly changed the subject. Jump City? She could have laughed.

“Jump’s got its good point and bad points,” she began, listing them on her long fingers, “It’s not so smelly, or polluted, or crime infested, but it’s still got a lot of superhero teams, as well as the H.I.V.E -” at this place, she paused momentarily, “And a lot of history, to summarize. Not to mention the Teen Titans.”

“And if you wanna head back on the train with me tomorrow, I guess that’s cool,” she said, smiling and shooting him a wink.

“Dakota? Isn’t that where Static’s from?” She asked, curiosity piqued, “And Jump City would have been your better bet. How far did you have to come to get here?”

“Then that means you are,” she said, her smile dropping at the phrase ‘short stack’. If he was calling her that… “Don’t let that nickname stick,” she demanded, folding her arms as she walked.

Then she nodded, the discussion back on Jump. “Yeah, you’ve got a point there. There are a few people you’ve gotta look out for, but nothing like here in Steel,” she stated. “Besides, the Titans always swoop into the rescue.”

Damn, he just had to question her about the H.I.V.E. She sighed. “They’re like, bad guys,” she started, that H.I.V.E. communicator feeling slightly out of place on her coffee table back at her apartment. “And they have a school. Where they teach metahumans to be bad guys. You don’t want to fall in with them, really. They control you, pretty much,” she finished, clearing her throat. “At least, that’s what I heard.”

No need to tell him she’d actually gone to school there or anything. Maybe not a good thing to start with.

“You hitchhiked? All that way?” She fell silent again, listening to Ethan.

“I heard about the Big Bang, actually. Didn’t sound too good – They never owned up to it, did they? But everyone knew pretty much the basis of what happened? Had a lot of trouble with it?” That was the extent of her knowledge on that subject. She wondered if he’d been a part of the Big Bang. But she didn’t ask.

Jinx quickly cast her eyes around the space. Considering this was makeshift, he’d done pretty well.

“Yeah, you can’t leave behind that mini oven,” she said, seriously. “You never know when it may come in handy.”

Jinx raised an eyebrow, folding her arms. “Surely you’re more imaginative than that. I’ve hardly got a tail. Or ears,” she said, sticking her tongue out. Thinking about it, she’d never really had a name – Well, Jinx, but she hardly counted that as a nickname.

She watched lazily as Ethan played with electricity, leaning against the wall. She raised an eyebrow at his next statement – So maybe his mutation was Big Bang related – Or maybe she was just stereotyping, seeing as he was around the right age and had been in a gang, in Dakota at (probably) the right time.

She nodded. “Needless to say, I never did well in school,” she said, gesturing to first her hair, then her entire ensemble. “At least being a metahuman, it gives you an excuse. Well, sometimes,” she stated, realizing he wasn’t very much of the flashy kind. She raised an eyebrow as he got settled, hiding the fact she was slyly checking him out by standing up straight and beginning to explore the small space, rubbing one arm absent-mindedly.

“Thanks for that, again, by the way,” she said over her shoulder, in response to his bouncer comment. Then she rolled her eyes, heading towards the bags containing the pizzas, crouching to pull out a pizza. “What am I? Your servant?” She began, then continued, “And there are no olives, your highness,” she finished, removing the wrapper and taking ‘all the proper precautions’, before sticking it in the over and tossing him the plug.

“Must save a bundle of electric,” she stated, “And when I get back to Jump, I’m going home for a while, probably. Then, er, I might attend a few classes,” she murmured, telling the semi-truth. She needed to finish a few classes off at H.I.V.E, but she wasn’t so keen on the idea. “Or maybe I won’t. We’ll see,” she stated, nodding her heads towards him.

“And where will I sleep?” She asked, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.